


In the Arms of a Thief

by Peeves_MelodyHallows



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Awkward Romance, Awkwardness, Blake as a single mom, Did I mention dorks?, Dorks, Dorks in Love, F/F, F/M, Far Future, Fluff and Humor, Jaune as a dork, M/M, Multi, OK LUNA YOU CAN READ THIS ONE (I'll label the chapters you shouldn't), Past Relationship(s), Possible smut, Queerplatonic Relationships, RWBY as adults, Romance, Ruby as a dork, Slow Burn, Yang as a cool mom, and Roman as a dork, rosewick trash, starring Weiss as remarkably less racist
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-30
Updated: 2017-12-02
Packaged: 2018-04-28 20:35:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 32,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5104859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peeves_MelodyHallows/pseuds/Peeves_MelodyHallows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Information was the currency that kept you alive on most missions. Going into the field without an information broker was nothing short of suicide for a huntsman or huntress, but when Ruby’s new informant turns out to be the master thief that she remembers all too well, she questions which would be the lesser of two evils. Future AU, set 10 years after the current canon. Rosewick trash.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Vaguely Civil Reunion

# A Vaguely Civil Reunion

            Ruby shouldn’t have been as excited as she was. She’d chalked it up to the sheer anticipation of finally being able to go on her mission, but there might have been a smidge of curiosity about her new information broker. As tragic as Billy’s death had been, the funeral had been almost a month ago, and to have this newcomer contact her so soon after the government had finished processing his client list, well, she admittedly found that impressive. So here she was, in the front hall of a stranger’s home, her feet hesitantly treading over the floorboards as she made her way to the open archway on her left.

            Ruby’s jaw practically snapped at the hinges as she wandered into the new room. “Holy mother of books…” Ruby’s eyes scanned the countless shelves as the scent of old pages with a hint of smoke enveloped her, and her curiosity intensified. “Hello?” she called out. “Anyone there? Uh…sorry for getting here so quickly, it’s just…I’ve kinda had to delay this job for a while…didn’t have enough intel for my higher ups to approve a flight request…hehe…”

            Ruby let out a soft, awestruck whine as she stepped further into the large room, her eyes bugging out while she admired the various shelves flanking each wall, the old fashioned balcony, and the intricate spiral staircase that was off to her far right. This place looked to be straight out of a fairy tale, and it was nothing short of glorious.

            “I try to keep this area of my house dry, so whatever you're doing there is gonna have to stop.”

            Ruby swerved around to face the voice that had spoken up, only to find the appearance of the man just as familiar as the sound. He’d leaned his elbows on the balcony as his one visible focused lazily on her; his orange hair shielded his right eye from view, and a soft, barely notable stubble lined the defined line of his jaw and the thin smirk on his lips. Something about this guy was way too familiar for comfort.

            Nonetheless, she’d flushed pink somewhat at his comment. “Sorry?” she paused a moment, her brow furrowed a bit as she stared forward and contemplated his comment. “Did I spill something? I don’t remember knocking anything over…” The man laughed at that, his head rearing back as he let out a loud bout of cackles that only sounded even more recognizable. Why was he so familiar?

            “Oh, honestly Red, I did not think that you would still be this innocent.”

            Ruby felt her blood run cold as he returned to leaning on the balcony, and she recalled the only person that had ever called her “Red”, the man that was supposed to have died in the war nine years ago, yet was inexplicably standing only meters away from her with an impish smirk on his face.

            “I was actually referring to the fact that you looked like you were about to have an orgasm,” he stated bluntly as he tilted his head slightly, “though now it seems like your expression finally matches the occasion.”

            “T-T-Torchwick!”

            The man’s smirk widened into a grin as she shouted the surname, and he leaned forward a little before answering the accusatory shout. “Hello Red.”

oooOOOooo

            He was surprised that he still remembered her. After all, it had been nine years since he’d even seen her in passing, and he’d never had quite a memory for names. Yet seeing hers on his newly delivered list of clients had solicited a soft groan from him. Ruby Rose, the girl that was responsible for cornering him into this occupation all those years ago. Not that he minded too much—being a government licensed thief beat prison, but that didn’t make the title “lap dog” any more appealing.

            For what it was worth, twenty five looked rather good on her—she still wore that ridiculous hood, but instead of the baggy black and red dress she’d worn as a fifteen year old, she wore a white blouse with a black leather stomach guard strapped over it, and a long flowing skirt that fell well below her knees. Various leather belts had been draped over her hips, holding all the equipment she’d carried nine years ago and a few things that he didn’t recognize: something that seemed to be an ordinary pistol and a few hunting knives, for example.

            Roman had to admit, she’d grown rather beautifully—her facial features still held that childlike innocence, but the contours had become more defined—or maybe they hadn’t, he wasn’t sure. It could have been a trick of the lighting, or her now waist length hair, or perhaps it was the fact that she actually seemed to be wearing makeup.

            Ruby blubbered a bit as she tried to form words, and he struggled not to laugh at her shock. He had, of course, remembered her habit of social awkwardness, he simply hadn’t remembered it looking so adorable (though his role as her enemy might have factored into his view of her as a nuisance).

            “You’re—you’re still—“

            “Devilishly handsome?” Roman offered playfully, “Charismatic? Alive? In Vale?” he lifted his elbows off the balcony and turned to the shelf behind him. “Well, as you can see, yes, I am.”

            “What the heck are you doing here?!”

            “I’m looking for the file you requested. I would have had it in your hands when you got here, but sadly, you arrived early.”

            “…the file I requested…wait a second…you’re my new informant?!”

            “Well yes, I would have thought that obvious.”

            “But…but you’re a criminal!”

            He snorted at that, but continued to scan the shelves for the right file. “You do realize that that trait is in the job description, right? The broker occupation was literally created to keep people of…questionable backgrounds off the streets, and to give huntsmen another tool to help them not die so quickly.”

            “They should have put you in jail!”

            “Please, I'm far more useful to everyone out here. Also far less damaging to the economy. Ah, here we are…” Roman pulled a moderately fat file off of one of his shelves and began to flip through it. “Out of curiosity, did you use your semblance to get here at all?”

            There was a pause before he heard her speak again. “So…so what if I did?”

            He glanced at her impassively before flipping the file closed and heading for the staircase. “I would rather you didn’t in the future. Most civilians in Vale haven’t discovered their semblance, and it would be an issue if anyone were to recognize a huntress headed to this location. For both of us, to clarify.”

            “Why don’t you just do what Billy did?”

            “You mean that meeting place system? Too archaic. Better to have one undiscovered meeting place and send as few messages as possible. After all, it’ll be harder for my enemies to find me if I don’t have a paper trail, and I’d rather not have my brains blown out like that old idiot.” Roman reached the bottom of the staircase and sauntered towards Ruby. He held the file out to her nonchalantly, only to have it ripped from his hands as forcefully as possible.

            “You haven’t changed at all,” she hissed.

            “If you want to believe that, be my guest,” Roman said with a smirk as she stomped towards his apartment door angrily. “Oh and do be a good girl and actually read those files. I won’t cry if you get yourself killed just to spite me.”

            Ruby let out a low growl as she swung the door open and glared back at him menacingly. “Screw you,” she muttered before slamming the door on her way out, leaving Roman behind to contemplate the visit with a level of amusement.

            “Hm…not sure that I’d refuse the offer…” he mused after a pause, and ambled back into his living room.

            It would be three weeks until he saw her again.

oooOOOooo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rosewick trash Peeves reporting in and hello, welcome to the spiritual successor of Still Dreaming. That I am starting early. For reasons. Now to clarify to those of you who found this through Still Dreaming…no, I am not done with that. I just…wanted to work on this. So, Future AU, ten years later…I left a lot unexplained, but the basic spoilers…this is an AU where Cinder lost. So yeah, light on the angst there. Do I know exactly where I’m going to take this? No, but thanks to the new age range of the characters, I know for sure that it’ll be more adult.  
> So…Rosewick trash Peeves out until next chapter.


	2. Catching Up

# Catching Up

            It was true that she hadn’t expected confetti and streamers when she mentioned Torchwick to her former teammates. Ruby simply supposed that she hadn’t foreseen Yang and Blake being so adamantly opposed to the idea that he was alive, or for Weiss to be…remarkably quieter than Blake about it. Of course, Weiss was a lot more reserved these days, she simply had expected a word or two from the ever quiet woman. She stared at the heiress a little longer before it came to her attention that Blake had stopped ranting and was now waiting for Ruby to answer her.

            “Uh…what was the question?” she asked.

            Blake stared at her incredulously before repeating herself. “Do you really expect me to believe that Roman Torchwick managed to escape a burning warehouse while he was unconscious, betray Cinder’s faction before the war ended, and then start working for the government in secret?”

            “Well…yeah, he apparently did, so…” Ruby trailed off and pulled a strawberry out of the fruit bowl she’d gotten with her lunch. “It was definitely him and I can’t think of another explanation…”

            “Your new broker is a ghost?” Yang offered.

            “Besides that,” Ruby gestured to her sister with the strawberry before biting into it.

            “Well at least you can request a different broker from the council, right? It might be a while before you can go on missions again, but it’s better than being stuck with Torchwick.” Ruby chewed her strawberry slowly and turned her eyes towards the mall plaza where they were seated; as the pause became apparent to Blake, so did the reason for it. “You can’t be serious. Are you actually considering _keeping_ him as your informant?!”

            “The information he gave me was really good!” Ruby whined defensively.

            “So what?!”

            “No I mean, seriously, he had everything I could have ever needed for my last mission,” Ruby leaned towards Blake with a grave look on her face. “Every possible map and blueprint, a complete list of every type of Grimm in the area, with all their attacks and weaknesses, and then plenty of notes about the criminals I was after, what they were transporting, he even had an estimate about how high their bounty would have to be and notes on their relationships and blind spots! And every bit of it was useful!”

            “It’s Torchwick! He’s a sociopathic anarchist with a history of violence and murder! How can you trust him at all?!”

            “I somewhat doubt that Roman would still be a broker after nine years if he couldn’t be trusted to do it properly,” Weiss spoke up suddenly.

            “That doesn’t change the fact that it’s Torch…” Blake trailed off and turned slowly to Weiss; Yang and Ruby followed suit, and for a few elongated moments, all eyes were on the heiress.

            “It’s funny,” Yang noted, “but I could have sworn that you just defended Torchwick.”

            Weiss shrunk a bit at that. “W-Well I’m not defending his criminal activities, just his capabilities as a broker…”

            “And you said that he’s been a broker for nine years,” Blake added.

            “T-That’s a logical assumption, I mean, what else would he have done after he disappeared?”

            “You referred to him by his first name too,” Ruby pointed out, and Weiss withered at her words.

            “That’s—it’s just an identifier…” she squeaked.

            “How long have you known that he was alive?” Blake asked in a soft, demanding tone.

            Weiss bit her lip slightly before squeaking out a barely audible response. “It’s been a year and a half now…?”

            “Oh my god,” Yang pronounced irritably as she looked away and threw her hands up in the air.

            “Perry made me swear not to tell you guys!” Weiss whined.

            “And you _listened_?” Blake stated incredulously.

            “I—I…it was Perry’s…he can be very persuasive you know.”

            “What about me being persuasive?”

            A pair of light brown arms wrapped themselves around Weiss, drawing Ruby’s attention up to the green haired man that owned them. Weiss jumped a bit at the sudden contact but relaxed back onto him a mere moment later. “Uh…it seems that Ruby met one of your male friends,” she replied lightly.

            “What kind of male friend?”

            “The kind you remember by name instead of bedroom layout.”

            “I have one of those?” Perry inquired with a bemused smirk as he rested his chin on the crown of Weiss’s head.

            “She found out that Roman’s still alive,” Weiss clarified.

            “Ahhh,” the faunus man smiled a little wider. “That’s right. He mentioned his meeting with you on the phone the other day. Apparently you were very entertaining.”

            Ruby wrinkled her nose in disgust, and Perry laughed as Blake’s scroll started buzzing.

            “Well that’s my cue…I have to go get Wit from daycare…Yang, that means you too.”

            “Huh?” the blonde stared at her former partner in confusion, soliciting a sigh from her.

            “I’m dropping you off at the docking stations on the way, remember?”

            “Oh, right,” Yang stood from her seat at the table and did a tiny stretch. “I completely forgot.”

            “That wouldn’t be the first time this week…” Blake muttered as she made her way for the plaza’s exit.

            “Do you really have to go back to Mistral already?” Ruby whined as her sister hoisted her bag over her shoulder.

            “’fraid so, sis. It was a fun visit, but my next mission is coming in a week and Neptune’s parents need some sort of break from their granddaughter.” Ruby puffed her cheeks out a little, and her sister laughed before pulling her hood over her head. “Give it a few more years. Gylden’s gonna attend Beacon once she’s old enough, I will fight her father on that.” Yang hesitated a moment before sending a soft glare towards Weiss and Perry. “If you don’t explain yourselves to me and Blake later, you will be in a world of hurt.”

            “I’m starting to feel some regret in getting Junior to offer you parenting advice,” Perry remarked as Weiss shrunk further into his arms.

            Yang chuckled in response and followed behind Blake. “See you around guys!”

            “Bye!” Ruby waved adamantly as her sister jogged away; she followed with her eyes until both women were out of sight before turning back to Perry and her former partner, who had all but forgotten her presence.

            “You were home very late last night,” Weiss murmured as she looked up at her roommate.

            “Mhm, and?”

            “Where were you?”

            “Didn’t we agree that my nightly activities aren’t your business?”

            “Only in the case where you don’t wake me up with your cold feet when you get home.”

            “I wanted cuddles before bed,” Perry whined softly as he rocked Weiss back and forth.

            “And I wanted to keep sleeping.”

            “I barely woke you up.”

            “You still woke me up though. Why couldn’t you wait until morning?”

            “Well I could have. I didn’t want to.”

            “You are such a child, you know that?” Weiss sighed as Perry delivered a small peck to her forehead.

            “True,” he shrugged, “but I have it on good authority that you actually like that about me.”

            “To some degree.”

            “You know, if you two keep acting like this in public, people are going to start thinking that you’re dating,” Ruby remarked, and their eyes finally returned to her.

            “My level of care is not,” Perry stated bluntly as he rested his chin back on Weiss’s crown.

            “How anyone else feels about our relationship is irrelevant,” Weiss added, “It’s our business. And frankly, the fact that Perry’s gay won’t change because of a few uninformed morons.”

            “You still act like a couple…” Ruby muttered as she dug another strawberry from her fruit cup.

            “Well, you aren’t wrong,” Perry replied with a smirk as he pulled his arms away from Weiss and pulled up a chair next to her. “Pretty sure we engage in all the pda that’s typical of your average straight couple, besides, you know, sucking face, groping…”

            “You’ve done that before,” Weiss interjected.

            “It was one time, I was only curious. Oh and motorboating. We don’t motorboat.”

            “Okay, first of all, that is not a public display of affection, second of all, you actually have done that before. In public.”

            Perry smirked impishly and leaned towards her. “Sweetie, you don’t have enough to motorboat.”

            Weiss scowled a little before stealing a grape from Ruby’s fruit bowl and throwing it at Perry’s face, making the faunus laugh in the process.

            “Hey! This is my fruit!” Ruby pouted and grabbed the bowl off the table. “Assault your roommate with something else!”

            “It was the closest round object,” Weiss stated dryly.

            Ruby frowned before a soft buzzing drew her attention towards her scroll as a new message popped up on the screen. “Oh. Well that was fast,” she remarked in surprise.

            “What was fast?” Perry asked.

            “Well, I sent a new info request to Torchwick about a week ago, and he said he’d need a little time to work on it…and he just sent me a message saying he’s got the files ready.”

            “It took him a week to get back to you? Huh. He must have been pretty busy…” Perry leaned his head on Weiss’s shoulder and graced with a small smile. “Well, you can head over now if you’d like. We were gonna hit the movies in an hour anyway, and something tells me that Weiss wants to force me to shop with her first.”

            “I only want to get a few new sho—“ Weiss started, causing her roommate to groan.

            “Of course you do.”

            “Well I’ll get you something too, if you want it.”

            “I have plenty of shoes in perfect condition, why would I buy more?”

            “Because more than half of them are starting to fall apart?”

            “And? Shoes are for the weak anyway.”

            Ruby giggled a bit at their banter as she collected the remainder of her lunch onto one plate and pocketed her scroll. “Well I guess I’ll get going then. You two better behave yourselves.”

            Perry grinned at that. “Don’t worry, we won’t.”

oooOOOooo

            He could admit to feeling a little too overzealous about seeing Ruby again. He could honestly say that for the most part his interest was based entirely in how entertaining her last visit had been, but Roman was all too aware that it might also have something to with his recently discovered physical attraction to her. True, she’d been easy on the eyes as a teen, but as an adult…if he lacked any more decorum, he probably would have made a more obvious move on her before. And that likely wouldn’t have ended well—Ruby had recoiled at an alarming speed upon recognizing him, he could only imagine how her disgust would be magnified if he let on to having a mild interest in her.

            So he’d capped his enthusiasm with an afternoon catnap, using the file that he was supposed to be handing off to Ruby to cover his face. He’d buzzed her in a short while ago, though it was no surprise that getting to the eighth floor of a building with no public elevator took a bit of time. He smirked at the thought of her discovering the personal elevator that he had in his apartment and wondered if she’d whine about all the trouble.

            “Torchwick? Are you in here?”

            Roman sighed and lazily pulled the file off his eye a little, glancing over the couch back somewhat to the archway where Ruby was ambling in. “You know, all things considered, I would not be opposed to you referring to me by my given name.”

            “You still call me Red.”

            “Because the name still fits as a nickname.”

            “Whatever,” Ruby muttered, “Why’d you leave the door open?”

            “Because the front one was locked and I’m the only person who lives here? Matter of security,” he muttered as he pulled himself up off the couch and patted the now closed file up against Ruby’s front. “The council doesn’t want any civilians to get caught in the crossfire if I get traced back to this place.”

            “Then why do you live on the top floor…?”

            “Well I’ve always had an interest in being on top,” Roman smirked wryly as he stretched a little and shuffled towards his kitchen. “In multiple areas of study, mind you.”

            “I really didn’t need to know that.”

            He laughed. “I didn’t think you’d catch my meaning, after all, you’d been so helplessly lost last time.”

            “You’re gross…”

            “I try,” he shrugged as she followed him into the kitchen.

            “Weren’t you…didn’t you have more facial hair last time I was here?”

            “Well I hadn’t shaved in a few days last time,” Roman remarked as he pulled a carton of orange juice from the fridge. “I hadn’t left home, so there was no need to. And not that I mind a little small talk Red, but I seem to recall passing off the file you asked for just a moment ago. Is there a reason you’re still here? I was under the impression that you wanted as little to do with me as humanly possible.”

            “Oh, uh…well, I kinda remembered that I had another info request on the way over…”

            “Oh?”

            “Well…uh…Beacon kinda offered me a teaching job after my next mission…”

            “You? Teaching? Sounds terrifying. Is there room for an audience? Because I would love front row seats.” Ruby scowled at him from the doorway as he leaned back on the kitchen counter with his glass of orange juice and a wide smirk. “That was a joke,” he noted after a brief pause.

            “It wasn’t funny.”

            “Well, personally, I think it was hilarious, but to each their own. What did you need?”

            Ruby scowled a moment longer before letting out a sigh. “I was wondering if you could collect some information on the team I’m supposed to be supervising.”

            He perked an eyebrow at that. “Just one team?”

            “It’s a senior class. They hire huntsmen and huntresses for individual teams and focus on field work.”

            “I see. So you want me to spy on the team you’ve been assigned to? How naughty.”

            “It’s not—can you do the job or not?”

            “Of course. Which team do you want me to look into?”

            “Uh…Glynda said they were known as team ALRM.”

            “Team ALRM?” Roman paused to take a sip of his orange juice. “How alarming.”

            Ruby withered slightly and looked at him with pleading eyes. “Oh no. Not you too.”

            “I must say, I have quite a few sirens going off about this job.”

            “Please stop.”

            “Are you saying I shouldn’t be alarmed?”

            “Oh my god.”

            “You could always chime in, you know.”

            “I’m leaving,” Ruby muttered as she stomped towards the door.

            “What, you aren’t on _Red_ alert?” Roman grinned as he followed her to the door.

            “That was so bad,” Ruby whined, turning back to him with a feigned look of pain.

            “We both know that that was amazing, and besides, I’m allowed to.”

            “You’re just as bad as Yang!”

            “Oh? So I’m ringing a few bells?”

            Ruby let out an enormous groan as she finally stomped out the door, and Roman found himself laughing hysterically at her reactions a good fifteen minutes after her departure. He’d found himself even more excited about seeing her again.

oooOOOooo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rosewick trash Peeves reporting in and I’d like to start by apologizing to any of you still reading that don’t like puns. I couldn’t help myself, it happened. So initially I had intended to leave the aforementioned team out of the picture for a while but I got a plot idea that requires their presence so…be prepared for
> 
> A cat leading a pack of dogs  
> Le moon moon  
> Rosewick lovechild and  
> Meme Fucker
> 
> Yeah. One of you mentioned a typo in the length…nah. This does take place ten years after the current canon, but in this future AU Roman didn’t disappear until a year of those ten years had passed. Hope that makes sense.  
> Rosewick trash Peeves out until next chapter


	3. Bad Timing

# Bad Timing

-one week ago-

_[7:30am] [Red] [So have you looked into the team yet?]_

_[7:35am] [Torchwick] […Red.]_

_[7:36am] [Red] [Yes?]_

_[7:40am] [Torchwick] [To start, it isn’t even eight o’clock yet, and you gave me the job yesterday.]_

_[7:40am] [Red] [Oh.]_

_[7:42am] [Torchwick] [But to answer your question, yes, I have started.]_

_[7:45am] [Torchwick] [Before you ask, no, I don’t know enough to tell you anything.]_

_[7:45am] [Red] [I WASN’T GONNA ASK.]_

_[7:45am] [Torchwick] […right]_

_[10:00pm] [Red] [You find anything out since we last talked?]_

_[10:30pm] [Torchwick] […I get the feeling that there is effort being put into this communication that should be spent focusing on your mission.]_

_[10:32pm] [Red] […did you?]_

_[10:35pm] [Torchwick] [Yes. I’ll show it to you when you get back.]_

_[10:36pm] [Red] [Okay. I’m going out of service range tomorrow, by the way.]_

_[10:47pm] [Torchwick] [And I need to know this because…?]_

_[10:47pm] [Red] […]_

_[10:47pm] [Torchwick] […]_

_[10:48pm] [Torchwick] […don’t]_

_[10:48pm] [Red] [don’t what???]_

_[10:49pm] [Torchwick] [just don’t]_

-two days ago-

_[3:22pm] [Red] [Hey do you have the files ready yet?]_

_[3:30pm] [Torchwick] […good afternoon to you too, Red.]_

_[3:31pm] [Red] [Do you?]_

_[3:32pm] [Torchwick] [How did your mission go?]_

_[3:40pm] [Red] […It went fine? I get back tomorrow night.]_

_[3:45pm] [Torchwick] [Fascinating. I’ll have the information ready by then.]_

_[3:45pm] [Red] [Okay!]_

-one day ago-

_[11:30pm] [Red] [Hey I just got back! Can I come get the files now?]_

_[11:35pm] [Torchwick] […Ruby.]_

_[11:36pm] [Torchwick] [You do realize]_

_[11:38pm] [Torchwick] [that is takes you at least thirty minutes to get here]_

_[11:40pm] [Torchwick] [and it’s 20 to midnight.]_

_[11:41pm] [Red] [So that’s a…?]_

_[11:45pm] [Torchwick] [You can stop by tomorrow morning. Goodnight, Red.]_

_[11:45pm] [Red] [oh…um…okay.]_

oooOOOooo

            He was going to kill them. He didn’t care who the hell they were or what the hell they wanted, he was going to kill them. Roman groaned as he nearly fell out of his bed to check his alarm clock, noting irritably that despite it being quarter to four in the morning, the near constant buzzing of his doorbell showed no signs of stopping. He whined a little as he forced his heavy limbs up to some position that vaguely resembled standing and trudged towards the video panel in his living room to identify his new victim. As his blurry vision fixed on the camera image, he caught himself staring at the woman in confusion before letting out a soft groan and clicking the audio receiver.

            “Ruby, what are you doing here?”

            _[“Oh, uh…I’m here to pick up the file I asked for…?”]_

            “…Do you—“ Roman stopped midsentence to let out a large yawn, “have any idea, what time it is?”

            _[“Uh…it’s morning…?”]_

            “Four, in the morning, to be specific.”

            _[“Oh.”]_

“When I said you could come pick it up later, I meant at a reasonable hour,” Roman said weakly as he watched her shift awkwardly on the screen.

            _[“Well I—I thought it would be later than that when I got here, since I kinda took the long way.”]_

“The long way…? If I was actually awake I would be—flattered, but right now I would really appreciate it if you went home.”

            _[“W-Wait!! But I came all this way—“]_

            “That’s lovely Red, but I want to sleep—“

            _[“Please! I promise it’ll be quick!”]_

            “Ruby…”

            _[“Please!”]_

            Roman sighed as Ruby began pleading into the microphone, leaning his head on the panel and letting his finger fall off the receiver. “You are so lucky that I find you cute,” he mumbled weakly as he buzzed her in and curled up on his couch sleepily. He managed to doze off a little in the time it took her to reach his floor, but the briefness of the blissful silence suggested that she may very well have used her semblance to speed up the steps.

            “So you have the file, right?”

            Roman let out a low groan and pointed vaguely towards the coffee table in front of him, where he’d fortunately left team ALRM’s file the night before. She shuffled around the couch to reach the file. For a moment after she grabbed it, there was only silence—then Ruby blurted out a confession so obscene that he might have laughed forever if he weren’t half comatose.

            “I’m afraid to read it.”

            “You have got to be kidding me…”

            “You’ve looked over the info, right? You can tell me what it says!”

            “You said you would be quick…” Roman whined pathetically.

            “I will be…as soon as you tell me what it says!” Ruby pushed the file towards Roman and let out another long groan.

            “If I apologize for whatever heinous crime I did to deserve this, will you _leave me alone?”_

            “As soon as you tell me what it says.”

            Roman shot a soft glare towards Ruby before pushing the file away and lifting his heavy limbs off the couch. He began a lazy shuffle for his room, paying Ruby no heed as he climbed the short staircase out of the lowered living area.

            “Uh, Torchwick? Where are you…wait!”

            He could hear her frantic footsteps approaching from behind as he locked his bedroom door and flopped down on his bed, but he didn’t care. Even as she started to bang on the door, he dozed off into a sound sleep without hesitation. He supposed one of the perks of being a lap dog had been the ability to get a good night’s sleep, and the extra minutes of rest that he spent before his brain turned on proved that he’d adapted to that privilege far too easily over the years. He gazed irritably at his alarm clock as he found himself far too awake to continue sleeping. Four fifteen, four bloody fifteen.

            Roman sat up in his bed and stretched his arms. He rose to his feet, barely faltering before ambling back to his bedroom door. He paused—the knocking had stopped, but with his luck, the girl was still on the other side of the door. Roman let out a soft sigh as he turned the doorknob and stepped into the archway, only to meet eyes with the huntress that had been banging on his door mere minutes ago. “Well surprise surprise,” he started, catching her attention as he leaned on the doorframe, “You know, for someone who claims to dislike my attention, you seem rather keen on receiving it lately.”

            Ruby averted her eyes from Roman in embarrassment before letting out a soft mumble. “Can’t you just read the dumb files…?”

            “Is there some sort of reason you can’t ask your friends to do this for you?”

            “T-They’re busy…”

            “Ah yes, they’re probably doing what I want to be doing right now,” Roman put on a wry smirk, “Sleeping.”

            “S-Sorry…”

            “You are really lucky that I’m not allowed to have a gun, just so you know,” he noted as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his pajama pants and stepped forward, “I wanted to shoot when you got here.”

            “Good to know,” she mumbled bitterly as he leaned down so that his face was mere inches away from hers. She curled up a little bit at the proximity, and he smiled as he snatched away the file she still held between her hands.

            “Well, since I’m awake anyway, and you’re still here, I suppose I can cut you a deal,” he smiled as he straightened up again. “I just need three…four things from you in return.”

            “What?”

            “Well to start…a more legitimate reason for why you can’t ask anyone else will do.”

            “I told you, they’re bus—“

            “Red, it’s quarter past 4am, we both know that most of your friends are asleep right now. And given the fact that you haven’t switched brokers yet, I suspect that you know I’m not stupid.” Roman tilted his head as he examined her. “So why are you really asking me?”

            She hugged her knees a little closer and bit her lip before responding. “I don’t want them to think I can’t handle this, okay? ‘Cause I can handle it, I know I can, I’m just…” Ruby hid her head between her knees and groaned for a moment. “I’m nervous, okay?”

            Roman snorted slightly as the answer echoed out, winning himself an immediate glare from the woman. “As if I hadn’t figured that out yet,” he grinned, “I was simply waiting for you to admit it.”

            She gaped at him a moment more before finally managing to form words. “Meanie!”

            He shrugged before offering a hand to her and pulling her to her feet. “Well, other than that…you owe one favor that I will be cashing in at some point, you get to make breakfast, and last but definitely not least…” Roman leaned down to Ruby’s height, making her lean back in the process, “you never show up on my doorstep at 3am again for anything other than a dire emergency or a booty call.”

            Ruby wrinkled her nose in disgust at his last comment. “As if I’d ever visit you for a booty call.”

            “Well I wasn’t expecting one tomorrow, but I’m a patient man,” he stated mockingly, his smirk still plastered across his face. “I can wait.”

            She snorted at that. “In your dreams,” she replied as she turned on her heels and strode towards the living area. He followed her with his eyes until she turned to the kitchen and walked out of view, at which point he examined the modern interior of the hallway whilst contemplating her retort. After a moment more, Roman’s smirk widened, and he murmured a response he was certain she couldn’t hear.

            “Oh, you have no idea.”

oooOOOooo

            “So. Where do you want me to start?”

            Ruby glanced up at Roman over the counter, holding his gaze for a moment before returning her eyes to the eggs she was frying on the stove. “Um…” her brow furrowed a little as she considered the question. “Names?”

            “Really?” Roman sighed, drawing her attention back to him. “You can’t even read that?”

            “You said you’d help!” Ruby snapped, and Roman shrugged before leaning back and running a finger over the file.

            “True…alright…the members of team ALRM...Regalia Amaranthe, Luna Tsuki, Marron Redtorch, and Marmalade Foxer.”

            Ruby paused and squinted at him. “Luna Tsuki?”

            “Yes?”

            “Luna… _Tsuki???_ ”

            “As amusing as your confusion is, entertaining it is not getting you out of my apartment any faster,” Roman noted dryly as he leaned his head into one hand, “Can we move on?”

            She sighed but nodded a little as she flipped the eggs on the stove. “What are their semblances?”-

            “…I’m afraid I have to withhold that information.”

            “What?! Why?!”

            “I was told not to, and frankly, Glynda Goodwitch is someone I’d rather not be on the bad side of nowadays.”

            “Since when have you ever done as you’re…wait. Why does Glynda know about this?”

            Roman glanced at her nonchalantly, his eye wandered over her for a moment before speaking again. “Did I forget to mention that I didn’t steal this information?”

            “Oh no…you didn’t…”

            “I didn’t ask Glynda for it? Sorry to let ya down, Red, but I did.”

            “Why couldn’t you go to someone _other_ than Beacon’s _headmaster_?!”

            “Because I didn’t catch on to that ‘nervous’ detail until I had already contacted Glynda.”

            Ruby slammed her head into the counter and whined. “My life is over…she’s gonna think I wasn’t ready and assign the team to someone else and then I’ll never get a teaching job, I’ll be sent on all the kiddie missions for the _rest of my life—_ “

            “If it’s any consolation, I wasn’t the first broker to stop by, and you weren’t the only team I was there to look into. Apparently your friend Jaune is five times as nervous as you, and your former partner wanted to be as prepared as possible. Of course, she was nice enough to schedule a pick up time instead of showing up unexpectedly on my doorstep. Now could you be a dear and serve those eggs already? They’re starting to burn.”

            Ruby sniffed a little before straightening up and pouting slightly. “Where are the plates?”

            “Cabinet to your right…your other right,” he corrected as Ruby swerved towards the cabinet to the right of her backside.

            “Your directions are lousy,” Ruby mumbled.

            “I blame that on lack of sleep and weak coffee, both of which are your fault.”

            “Hey! It’s not my fault that your coffeepot is weird!” Ruby grabbed two plates from the cabinet on her right and turned back to the stove.

            “In my experience, coffee is supposed to brew slowly.”

            “Whatever,” Ruby muttered as she scooped the eggs off the frying pan and onto the plates before grabbing the toast that had just sprung out of the toaster. She paused for a moment, her brow furrowed in contemplation as she slowly pushed Roman’s breakfast towards him. “Wait. Weiss is one of your clients?”

            Roman snorted a bit before letting out a somewhat enthusiastic laugh. “Your reaction time is astonishing Red! I wasn’t aware that you could actually be that slow!”

            Ruby felt the heat begin to rise in her cheeks, a deep frown marring her features as she leaned over the counter towards him. “H-Hey! It’s not that funny! Don’t pick on me!”

            “But you make it so easy,” he wheezed as he leaned his head into his hands.

            “I’m just a little tired, okay?! I haven’t been able to get to sleep yet!” She fumed a moment more before turning off the stove and walking around the island to grab a barstool. She made a small harrumph as she flopped down before her breakfast, crossing her arms and averting her gaze from Torchwick. “Just finish telling me about the team already.”

            “Alright then…team ALRM’s leader is Regalia Amaranthe, though according to their teachers, her partner Luna does most of the leading. In their respective partnerships and as individuals, they all function on high levels; their work as a collective team, or when working with other teams, is substandard.”

            “So…the partnerships work well…but the team as a whole doesn’t?”

            “Apparently even though Marron and Marmalade are thick as thieves, their ability to take orders from or listen to Regalia and Luna in combat situations is lacking.”

            “Okay…how are their grades?”

            “They all get high marks, and are currently ranked as the most intelligent team of the graduating class…that said, according to their teachers, without Luna, the rest of the team could have failed their core classes rather easily.”

            “So…Luna’s the only smart one?”

            “No, Luna’s just the only one who actually gives a damn. Apparently, Regalia, Marron and Marmalade all despise homework. Marron and Marmalade seem especially uninterested in anything that doesn’t involve fighting or guns. To put it in simpler terms…they’re all slackers. The only reason they even get grades is because Luna kicks their asses if they don’t do work. Literally, according to Oobleck. Some of the teachers actually hold contests to see which of them Luna attacks the most. Though Marron is usually the winning bet.”

            “What are their weapons and combat stats like? Minus the semblances.”

            “Physically speaking, Marron is the strongest, and Luna is the weakest. Marmalade has the best endurance, Regalia has the worst. Luna is the most agile, Marron is the least agile. They are all equally clever, though Marron and Marmalade seem to be the most confident on the battlefield. As for weapons…Regalia wields a pair of chain sickles that become a sniper rifle, apparently dubbed ‘Broken Dreams’. She’s passable in melee combat, but is better suited for ranged fights. Luna wields a bow named ‘Eclipse’ that separates into bayonetted shotguns. Her skill at long range is masterful, according to her teachers, but her melee skills are lackluster at best, at worst, they’re nonexistent.

            “Marron wields a Warhammer machine gun called ‘Armageddon’, and of her team, her stats are the most even. Though, that’s more to say that she’s just a tank. Her ranged skill is as efficient as Regalia’s and her melee attacks are second only to her partner Marmalade. Speaking of, Marmalade wields a baseball bat named “Insanity” that transforms into a chain mace and an assault rifle. Her skill in melee combat is phenomenal…and her range ability sucks as much as Luna in close combat. Any questions?”

            “Overall ranking in combat?”

            “The team as a whole is ranked third in the class, Marron and Marmalade are ranked first in partnership combat, Regalia and Luna are ranked fifth, and individually…Marmalade is ranked fourth, Marron is ranked fifth, Regalia is ranked ninth, and Luna is tenth.”

            “That’s all…really good…” Ruby murmured weakly as she toyed with her egg.

            “I seem to recall your team being ranked first by senior year, and you yourself being ranked second individually.”

            She squinted at that. “I don’t remember telling you that.”

            Roman shrugged. “Glynda mentioned it. She seems to have high hopes for you, Weiss and Blake. And she seemed a little disappointed that Yang moved to Mistral.”

            “R-Really?”

            “Would I lie to you?”

            Ruby held Roman’s stare for a moment before he averted his gaze and clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Don’t answer that.”

            “Mhm.”

            “Don’t be rude.”

            “Like you have any right to comment on my manners!” Ruby huffed a little before finally picking up her breakfast and biting into it. She chewed slowly as she contemplated what else to ask. “Is there anything else I should know?”

            “Hmm…Glynda allowed me the right to tell you their biggest flaws, so…Regalia is too complacent, Luna is too stubborn, Marron is extremely lazy, and Marmalade…can be very intense…and usually is. Oh, and they are all aggressively faunus.”

            “Aggressively faunus…?”

            “Yes.”

            “What does that even mean?”

            “It means that if you leave them in a room alone with a racist for too long, you might catch them burning the poor bastard at the stake when you get back.”

            “So they wouldn’t get along with you...”

            “There is a difference between ignorant bigotry and being an asshole for fun.”

            “Oh? What’s that…?”

            “Awareness. I already know that faunus are equal to humans, I just like pushing buttons and it’s an easy soft spot.”

            “Hm…still makes you a racist if you ask me…” Ruby trailed off a little, her head nodding slightly she nibbled on her toast. She felt a little dazed—she supposed now that she’d heard all there was to hear about team ALRM, her exhaustion was finally catching up to her. She let out a large yawn, her hazy eyes looking out of the kitchen archway towards the one squashy leather sofa in Roman’s living area. But apparently Roman had caught on to her sudden lack of energy and was now starting to speak up as she slid off of her barstool and shambled towards the couch.

            “Red…Red no, you said you would leave after I finished telling you about the team…stop eye guzzling my couch like that…Ruby, please, as much as I value our time together, I would really love it if you could go now.”

            “Just let me take a little nap, Torchwick…m’sleepy…”

            “Is there a reason you can’t sleep at home?”

            “It’s too far away…”

            “Of course it is…” Roman let out a groan. “You’re killing me here kid…”

            Ruby was about to climb over the edge of the couch and flop down, but before she could, two toned arms picked her up bridal style and carried her out of the living area. She looked up blearily, only to see the familiar, somewhat scruffy face of the mildly irritated Roman Torchwick. “What are you doing…?”

            “Carrying you to the bedroom, since I was planning on using my couch in a few minutes.”

            “But…”

            “Red, you aren’t in a position to protest.”

            “Mm…kay…” Ruby’s head flopped down on Roman’s shoulder, and mere moments later she found herself laid gently down on a king sized bed and tucked in up to her neck. The last thing she saw before closing her eyes was his blurred form closing the door.

oooOOOooo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rosewick trash Peeves reporting in. Sorry for the wait time, my muse has started fighting me again. In any case hello again. More on the newly introduced team ALRM, but I’m like Ruby at the end of this chapter right now so I’m blanking on whether or not I have much else to say…
> 
> So…I kinda apologize for the massive info dump on team ALRM that happens in this chapter but…it was fun to write and also it helped me flesh out the characters a bit more. Next chapter will hopefully reveal this elusive team of faunus brats, and I hope you all like them as much as the rosewick I’m attempting to build slowly. Rosewick trash Peeves out until next chapter.


	4. Unwelcome Lunch Guests

# Unwelcome Lunch Guests

            Roman hadn’t realized that he’d dozed off on the couch until he found himself staring lazily up into the blue eyes of a woman he knew better than he’d ever wanted to: Weiss Schnee. Relaxed fingers rose to brush against the stinging sensation where her open palm had made contact with his right cheek, and he paused only a moment more before putting on a light smirk.

            “Ice Queen,” he addressed her casually.

            “Torchprick,” she rescinded without flinching.

            “Aren’t you a bit early?”

            “Our meeting was scheduled for noon.”

            “Your point?”

            “It’s currently half past twelve, Roman.”

            “Ah.”

            “So. Where’s the file I requested?”

            “Second floor, J 1-15, look for the one that looks like it was half eaten by a pack of rabid falcons.”

            “How charming.”

            “You have no idea,” Roman murmured as he lifted his heavy body off the couch, stretching out his arms a little before letting out a soft yawn. “Why does it smell like food?”

            “Because Perry is making lunch,” Weiss replied nonchalantly as she climbed the spiral staircase up to the second floor balcony.

            “Would you two please stop inviting yourselves over unannounced?”

            “We called you before we arrived. You didn’t pick up, so we used Perry’s spare key to get in.”

            “Moments like these make me regret giving him that,” he replied softly as he trudged towards the kitchen. Perry greeted him with a nod as he entered, and he flopped down into his seat blearily before leaning over to see what was cooking. “…Really? Tomato soup and grilled cheese? What, did we go back to being ten year olds?”

            “There is no age limit on the classics,” Perry replied, “and I would have made grilled chicken, but guess who didn’t have any chicken in his fridge.”

            “You couldn’t grill some steak?”

            “That’s dinner food.”

            “So?”

            Perry sighed and stared at him for a pause. “Why do you smell like alcohol?”

            “Because there’s a beautiful woman in my bed that I’m not allowed to touch. Well, there was one before I fell asleep. I’m not sure if she’s still there.”

            “Is this beautiful woman who I think it is?”

            “If you’re thinking of Ruby Rose, your answer’s on the money.”

            “What about Ruby?” Weiss inquired as she entered the room with a manila folder that was partially torn in several places.

            “Apparently she’s in Roman’s bed,” Perry chirped.

            “Sleeping, in my bed,” Roman clarified quickly as Weiss opened her mouth to speak.

            “Can I ask why…?”

            “Mm…did I mention that she showed up on my doorstep at quarter to four in the morning today?”

            Weiss and Perry both snorted, and Roman glanced between them irritably. “That sounds like Ruby,” Weiss sighed.

            “I’m surprised you let her in,” Perry murmured, “last time she did that to us I made her sit outside for an hour.”

            “She’s done that to you before?”

            “Yup. About four years ago, I think,” Perry grinned, “Right, Weiss?”

            Weiss nodded in agreement. “It was back when Yang went into labor with Gylden. Ruby got a call from Neptune about it and suddenly while he was freaking out in the waiting room of one of Mistral’s hospitals, Ruby was freaking out on our doorstep at three in the morning.”

            “Oh dear god,” Roman remarked.

            “We were pretty pissed,” Perry grinned, “’cause I had a friend over and Weiss was still…well, you know.”

            “Mhm,” Roman forced a thin smile. “I know.”

            There was a breath of awkward silence before Weiss let out a soft cough. “Five bucks says you let her in because of your cute fetish.”

            Suddenly Perry was howling with laughter, Weiss was giggling at her roommate’s overzealous response, and Roman was attempting to wheeze out a protest as he found himself laughing by example. “I do not have a cute fetish—“

            “Name one person you’ve dated who didn’t reek of cuteness!” Weiss retorted.

            “…Perry.”

            “Fuck you!” Perry rasped out as he jabbed a weak finger towards Roman and leaned himself on the fridge for support.

            “Hmm…but you already have…” Roman said with a smirk as Weiss slid off her barstool and served the food for Perry, who was still attempting to collect himself.

            “Alright, boys, that’s enough now,” Weiss said casually. “And Roman, don’t lie. We all know that you dated Perry when he was sixteen and at the peak of his cuteness.”

            “Shit, I was hoping you wouldn’t catch that,” Roman smirked.

            “Wait, are you saying I’m not cute anymore?” Perry asked as he pulled up a barstool.

            “Darling, you are over six feet tall and muscular.”

            “So?”

            “So your default setting changed to hot and sexy, not cute.”

            “Oh,” Perry bit into his grilled cheese and shrugged. “I’m okay with that.”

            “Uh…”

            The trio turned their heads towards the kitchen’s entrance in time to see Ruby bring one hand up to scratch the back of her head.

            “Well would you look at that. It lives,” Roman remarked, only to be punched in the arm by Weiss. “Ow.”

            “S-Sorry about this morning…”

            “Don’t worry about it. If you had really bothered me all that much, then I wouldn’t have let you in.”

            “O-Oh,” Ruby’s eyes wandered the room frantically before falling on her former partner. “H-Hi Weiss.”

            “Ruby, stop staring at us like a lost puppy and sit down next to Roman already,” Weiss said bluntly, “I’ll get you a bowl of soup.”

            “O-Okay,” Ruby scurried over and plopped into the seat next to Roman, her cheeks still tinged pink with embarrassment. As Weiss turned around to collect ingredients for a fourth grilled cheese sandwich, Ruby fidgeted a bit before moving to speak again. “So…uh…what were you guys talking about? I-I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

            “Oh, we were discussing Roman’s weakness for cute people.”

            “Actually I think we’d gotten to the part where you admitted to finding Perry sexy.”

            “Oh, I already knew that she thought that,” Perry noted.

            “…You have a weakness for cute people?” Ruby asked as she looked up Roman, one eyebrow perked above her bright silver eyes. The redhead nearly swore under his breath as he found himself incapable of refuting the question without sounding like he was lying out of his ass. Roman slapped his head on the counter in front of his plate and held his hand out towards Weiss.

            “Ice Queen, do you think you can find it in your heart to pass me a beer?”

            “Changing the subject, are we?”

            “Get me a beer before I kick you out of my apartment.”

            “Hey! Don’t be mean to Weiss!” Ruby shouted.

            “Yeah, don’t be mean to Weiss!” Perry chimed in mockingly.

            Roman let out a low groan, and Weiss laughed before passing him a beer. “I would offer to switch seats with you, Torchprick, but I enjoy seeing you suffer.”

            “Nice to know, Ice Queen.”

            “Torch…pri—Weiss!” Ruby suddenly gasped, making Perry howl with laughter again.

            “Red, she always calls me that,” Roman muttered as he popped the cap off of his beer.

            “O-Oh…sorry…”

            “But please, by all means, keep defending me, it’s quite amusing.”

            “Cute weakness,” Perry coughed as his giggles subsided.

            “No one asked you, rat,” Roman retorted bluntly, earning himself a glare from Weiss and a slap upside the head from Perry. He directed a soft growl at the faunus but elected to take a sip of his beer instead of making a verbal retort. “So,” he spoke up after another elongated pause, “When do classes start back up at Beacon?”

            “Exactly one week from tomorrow,” Weiss replied smartly as she served Ruby her meal. “Plenty of time to prepare. Right, Ruby?”

            “R-Right, _plenty_ of tim—oww!”

            Roman snorted as Ruby dropped her sandwich back on her plate as if it was made hot coals. “Still nervous, I see.”

            “I’m not nervo…” Ruby trailed off as she met eyes with Roman, his smirk widening significantly as she slowly shrunk back. “Shut up,” she muttered, pouting as she returned to her sandwich.

            “Make me,” Roman challenged, his smirk widening further before Weiss caught his attention by tugging on his ear.

            “Behave yourself,” Weiss said plainly as she took another bite of her sandwich.

            “I am behaving myself,” he replied, “So what about you, Ice Queen? You nervous at all?”

            “Not really. On one hand, team JADE seems like a pretty sufficient team, so they should be able to handle themselves. On another…well, I’ve baby-sat children before, I’m pretty sure I can handle that if push comes to shove.”

            Roman stared at Weiss for a moment before taking a sip of his beer. “And that…is why they call you Ice Queen.”

            “You are the only person that still calls me Ice Queen,” Weiss stated flatly.

            “Ahem,” Perry waved a hand towards his roommate.

            “You don’t count.”

            “In any case,” Roman murmured as he got up from his barstool and carried his plates to the sink, “As fun as our time together has been today, I have a few jobs I need to get ready for, so I’m going to need you all to leave now.”

            “You don’t want help washing the dishes?”

            “Well I wouldn’t mind…just don’t break anything while I’m getting ready…and don’t sneak in to watch me shower.”

            “Why would we do that?!” Ruby blurted out frantically.

            “Oh, I know you wouldn’t, Red, I was speaking more for Perry.”

            “I don’t find you that attractive, dude,” Perry noted.

            “Just speaking from experience,” Roman sighed as he stepped out of the kitchen and moved towards his bedroom. He stalled, contemplating the vague memory of something he’d nearly forgotten before twirling on his heels and facing his guests. “Oh, one other thing that I guess I should tell you, since you’re here.”

            “What?”

            “I’ll be out of contact for a week or two starting tomorrow.”

            “…You’re going out of service range for a job…?

            “Nooot quite, Red. I’m simply going to be conducting what I like to call an ‘info purge’.”

            “It means his position at this location is at risk for being compromised under his current contact information,” Weiss chimed in as she turned around to collect Perry’s empty plates. “So he’s going to delete his current alias and take some time to collect a new one.”

            “You know, I can explain it myself, Ice Queen.”

            “Either way, wasn’t your last purge less than a month ago? Normally you wouldn’t schedule another so soon.”

            “Normally I don’t get fifty texts, twenty missed calls and five silent voicemails from the same huntress in the span of one hour.”

            “What sort of _imbecilic_ huntress would be ignorant enough to—“ Weiss cut herself off, her eyes raising up from the plate she’d been scrubbing violently and following Roman’s gaze to Ruby, whose cheeks were nearly as red as her cloak. “Oh my god…Ruby, _why?”_

            “It was an accident, okay?!” Ruby whined loudly before yanking her hood down over her head and hugging herself. “I didn’t realize that I was still out of service range…”

            Roman let out a short chuckle as he began to walk towards his room again, his hands shoved into his pockets as he listened vaguely to the sound of Weiss berating her former partner. After a while he could hear Perry wailing with laughter, and he smiled as he considered just how embarrassed Red must have looked. He supposed that the woman’s recent anxiety did have a few perks—she was really adorable when she blushed.

            Roman sighed as he made it back to his bedroom, pausing only a moment before shambling towards the connected bathroom. He’d planned to shower earlier that day, but with Ruby fast asleep in his bed and the catnap he’d ended up taking, he hadn’t gotten around to it quite yet. He let out a soft yawn as he closed the door, one hand rising to rub the back of his head before he leaned over the sink to examine himself in the mirror. No new wrinkles to be seen, he noted near immediately, and despite the stubble sprouting faithfully from his jaw on schedule, he found no signs of an unwanted grey hair—though he was certain that one of these days Vale’s elder council would work him to the point where he found a few premature streaks scattered across his bangs.

            Roman stepped back from the mirror, his arms swung at his sides for a pause before he reached up to pull his long sleeved shirt over his head. With the fabric peeled off his skin, scars every conceivable type came into view—whether it was the burn scars he’d received when he angered Cinder too much (or when Vale had tortured him), laceration scars from a few less than friendly encounters with huntsmen and huntresses (or from when Vale had tortured him), or claw marks from Grimm that he’d been unfortunate enough to get close to (though they looked pretty similar to a few claw-like scars he’d gotten when he was tortured).

            Some of these were from wounds he’d only barely survived—an uncomfortable number of which were ones he’d received while fighting Ruby or her mentor Qrow, and he might have even received a perfect impression of Yang’s fist somewhere on his lower back (from, if memory served, an attack that had almost obliterated one of his kidneys). He shuddered to think of how much damage he would have taken if he’d participated until the war had seen its end. Give it a year or two more and Kitty and Ice Queen would have dealt a few more near fatal blows as well, and he was sure that Blake would have been happy to relieve him of a few limbs while she was at it.

            Roman sighed again before resting on closed toilet seat and lifting his right ankle up to his knee to adjust his least favorite and only piece of jewelry: his house arrest anklet. He gave the miserable scrap of metal a soft, unenthusiastic tug before checking to make sure that he still had plenty time before the thing’s next maintenance check. Two months left. Well, it was far enough away for comfort. He stalled, his hand hovering over the anklet as he considered how much he’d love to be rid of it. ‘Lap dog’ was a term he’d become all too comfortable with using, but that was probably a mere effort to disguise the more accurate term that was ‘prisoner’.

            Roman nearly jumped out of his skin as a soft knock sounded against the bathroom door, followed by the meek voice of a young huntress that had been curled up in his kitchen only moments before.

            “Torchwick? Are you in here?”

            “Honestly Red, I thought better of you. Didn’t you say you weren’t going to sneak in to watch me?”

            “That’s not why I’m here you big mean…” Ruby trailed off slowly, coughing a little as he heard the soft thwack of her forehead hitting the door. “That’s not why I’m here…”

            Roman frowned, his hesitation stalled him briefly before he leaned back and spoke up again. “If you say so, Red. What did you need?”`

            “I…um…I-I wanted to apologize.”

            “Hm. I seem to recall you having done that already.”

            “Not…not just for this morning…” Ruby mumbled, making Roman sit up reflexively in minute surprise. The huntress let out a heavy breath as she continued. “I…I’ve been bugging you about this job since the day I gave it to you and I—even though I wasn’t thinking about it at the time, that isn’t really an excuse, is it? And on top of that…you…you told me not to try contacting you while I was out of service range, and I—I chose not to listen, and now you have to do extra work just…just to keep yourself safe and—and it’s my fault. So I know it doesn’t fix anything, but I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have caused you so much trouble.”

            Roman felt the heat rising in his cheeks as he stared as the bathroom door, seemingly dumbfounded by Ruby’s words and extremely thankful for the plank of wood between the two of them. It hid his emotions just as well as forcing away his blush usually would, and took far less effort. He let out an awkward cough as he replied to her. “Seriously, Red, you don’t have to make a big deal out of it. I would have had to change my alias again either way, and if I had really found you too annoying, you would be the first to know.”

            “But that’s…that doesn’t make how I acted okay!”

            He smiled a little and stood up, ambling over to the door and pulling it open.

            “W-Wait! D-Don’t open the door! I don’t need to see you naked!”

            Roman smirked as Ruby came into view, her arms wrapped tight over face in an effort to avoid looking at him. “I’m still wearing pants, you know,” he said before leaning onto the doorframe.

            Ruby’s eyes peeked out from behind her arms, and he could tell that her face was still beet red under the circumstances. She averted her gaze as her arms flopped to her sides, pouting like a little child as he chuckled at her.

            “If I said how you acted was okay, would you accept that it’s okay?”

            “Huh?”

            “If I’m alright with how you acted, wouldn’t that make it okay?”

            “No! I mean, yes! But…no…and it’s not that I’m not happy that you aren’t mad at me for it, it’s just…if you were still mad, you’d have every right to be, so I guess I’m…” Ruby hung her head and exhaled heavily before looking back up at him. “Thanks for putting up with me. I really appreciate it.”

            There was a breath of silence between them as Roman studied the woman’s stiff frame. After a moment more, he smirked and brought a hand up to ruffle her hair, making her jump a little in surprise. “No problem kid. After all, you still owe me a favor, right?”

            “R-Right…”

            “Now if you don’t mind…” Roman put on a friendlier smile and leaned over to grab the doorknob. “I was just about to take a shower, so unless you were planning on joining me, I’d like some privacy.”

            Ruby wrinkled her nose slightly at the suggestion before smiling back. “Okay. Bye, Torchwick.”

            “Until next time, Red.”

oooOOOooo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rosewick trash Peeves reporting in and boi was this chapter fun to write. I wasn’t exactly sure where it was headed and initially this was only gonna be the first half of a chapter, but then it got kinda lengthy and I decided that it stood well enough all on its own. So…next time we will definitely meet team ALRM, and possibly even catch a glimpse of Weiss’s group, team JADE. I hope you enjoy their introduction.
> 
> So I’d like to give special thanks to tumblr users katophoenix, lunarpikachu, the8thsphynx, lobsterbara and rubyisms for reading unfinished clips, letting me bounce ideas off of them and just for being pretty cool in general. Also lawfulevilnovelist for letting me read shit aloud even though I’m shit at mimicking dialogue.
> 
> Well, Rosewick trash Peeves out until next chapter.


	5. Team ALRM

# Team ALRM

            A week more passed at an uncomfortably quick pace for Ruby until she found herself retracing her steps through the halls of Beacon, still as frazzled and unprepared as she had been. It was the first day of classes, and as the first years struggled to find the right lecture halls, she paced the walkways almost from memory alone as she made her way to the senior lecture hall where RWBY had met their assigned huntsman almost six years ago. Only this time, she would be on the other side.

            "Ruby! Wait up!"

            Ruby paused and turned on her heels in time to see a scruffy looking blonde haired man running up to her, someone that she soon recognized as Jaune. "Hey!" she smiled as he caught up with her, giving him a short greeting hug before pulling back again to examine him. "I swear, you get bigger every time I see you!"

            "Jeez, Rubes, you sound like my _mom_ ," Jaune mumbled as one hand traveled to the back of his head. Of all her former classmates, Jaune had easily changed the most, both during his years at Beacon, and in his years as a huntsman. In ten years, he'd transformed from the scrawny dork they'd all grown to love, to a tall, broad shouldered beast of a man with an aggressive fighting style and an appearance to match. Most strangers that met him nowadays were intimidated upon first glance, much to his dismay (he was still a massive puppy dog beneath his crude exterior.)

            Ruby laughed. "Did you just get back from your last mission?"

            "Yeeaah," Jaune chuckled as scratched his scruff covered cheek with one finger. "I was almost afraid I wouldn't make it in time."

            "We're about five minutes early, so…what team were you assigned?" Ruby inquired as she began walking again.

            "T-Team BRAS," Jaune stuttered as he began walking beside her. "They're apparently a pretty wild bunch, but I think I should be able to handle them. What about you? Who'd you get?"

            "Team ALRM," Ruby sighed, and Jaune snorted shortly after the name left her lips.

            "Heh, alarm."

            "Not you too…" Ruby withered.

            "Oh…oops. Sorry."

            "It's fine…just…everyone's been making jokes about their name, Yang, Qrow…Weiss even tried out a few, and you should've heard the string of puns that Torchwick pelted me with, it was just painful—"

            "Wait…Torchwick? As in, Roman Torchwick?"

            Ruby hesitated, looking up to Jaune. He looked…confused. It took her a moment to remember that she hadn't actually told him about her new informant yet. "Uhm…yes…?"

            "I thought that asshole was dead," Jaune suddenly growled with a level of force she knew not to provoke further.

            "W-Well…uh…y-yeah, um…he's…he's not…Vale actually assigned him as my new broker…"

            "They did _what_?!"

            "Um, yeah, a-about a month ago…" Ruby's eyes wandered the halls in search of some way to change the subject—she'd entirely forgotten about Jaune's immense hatred for the masterminds behind the last war of Remnant. Of course, it wasn't as if he'd ever made any attempt to hide it—once the war had ended, he'd been such a strong advocate of Cinder's execution that even Weiss's blood ran cold at the thought of how much he'd wanted her dead. Ruby supposed that she'd already grown comfortable with the fact that Roman suddenly had a place in her life again. She didn't actually know how to feel about that. Suddenly, the familiar sound of the class bell rang through the halls, and Ruby couldn't help but internally sigh with relief. That is, for the split moment for she remembered what the bell meant.

            "Oh crap. We're gonna be late! Ahhh okay Jaune I promise I'll sort this out with you later but right now we need to go!" Ruby stammered quickly before grabbing him by the arm and navigating the hallways at top semblance speed. They arrived at the right lecture only a few seconds later, though with the web-like crack her abrupt halt had left on the floor, their arrival was anything but subtle. Ruby could feel the heavy weight of silence as all eyes in the room focused on her and Jaune, and she felt like she'd just triggered the absolute worst case scenario.

            "Punctual as usual, I see, Miss Rose, Mister Arc," Glynda spoke up from her spot at the center of the room.

            Ruby immediately rose to her feet and bowed her head to the woman. "I'm sorry, headmaster Goodwitch! It won't happen again!"

            "I'm sure. In any case, go stand by your former teammates. We were just about to begin."

            "R-Right." Ruby scurried over between Weiss and Blake, earning herself a soft pat on the head from Blake and a 'nice going dork' from Weiss. As Glynda began her opening speech, she whined slightly before becoming hyper aware of a gaze that was still absolutely tethered to her every movement. Ruby's eyes wandered the small crowd of students before locking eyes with a tiny, white haired faunus girl whose unblinking golden eyes seemed to be cataloging her very existence in the room. After a moment the girl began nudging a larger redhead faunus girl—who was inexplicably laying down on the desk with her back facing Glynda—and whispering excitedly while their friend whined.

            "Marron! Marron! It's _Ruby Rose!!_ The youngest huntress to ever graduate from Beacon!"

            "Luna, I am trying to sleep…"

            "How can you sleep at a time like this?! We're in the presence of a living legend!"

            "We were in the presence of living legends before she came in and broke the floor—"

            "Who cares?! Ruby Rose is so much cooler!!"

            "It seems like you have an admirer," Weiss remarked softly, making Ruby blush and avert her gaze to the floor as Glynda finally wrapped up her introduction.

            “Are there any questions? Tsuki, Redtorch?” Glynda’s eyes narrowed on the two faunus girls, and with barely any hesitation the smaller girl stood from her chair and slapped her hands down on the other girl’s arm.

            “Yes ma’am! Do we get to choose our mentors?”

            “No,” Glynda stated flatly.

            “Poop,” the girl pouted as she flopped down into her seat, her wolf ears twitching furiously.

            “And, you, Redtorch?”

            The girl on the desk barely moved an inch, but her fox tail swayed back and forth a little as she spoke. “Do I get to hit stuff?”

            “Starting tomorrow, your training regimen will consist almost entirely of sparring and missions, so yes, you will get to hit ‘stuff’.”

            “Kay. I’m into it.”

            “Good. Now sit up and face the front of the classroom, like the rest of your classmates.”

            The girl sat still for a moment before groaning and lifting herself up into slouched position on her friend’s desk, effectively blocking the smaller faunus from view. A few soft whines could be heard behind her, followed by several lightly apparent tugs at her sturdy frame until two small arms wrapped over her shoulders and the smaller girl’s popped up above hers. “What are you, a monkey?” Marron yawned, earning a slight huff from Luna as she wrapped her legs over Marron’s shoulders.

            “Shut up, you were in the way.”

            “If you say so…calm your thirsty ass down, Reggie.”

            “I didn’t say anything!” a red haired cat faunus blurted out from across the room, followed by a resounding “mhm” from the entire class.

            “Children, please,” Glynda growled after a moment. “You are in the presence of elite huntsmen and huntresses. Behave yourselves.” The room went silent for a while before the headmaster cleared her throat and continued. “As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, the professors and I took it upon ourselves to assign your teams a mentor based on which could help your teams and yourselves improve to the best of your abilities. Today, you will meet your instructors, tomorrow, they shall measure your abilities in combat.

            “Now then. Once your team is called, your assigned mentor will step forward. You will then leave this lecture hall and follow your new instructor to a quiet area on campus, and introduce yourselves. Is this understood?” A collective yes followed the question before Glynda continued. “Good. Team ALRM, your mentor for your last year at Beacon shall be…Ruby Rose.”

            Ruby stepped forward meekly as Luna let out a high pitched squeal and started shaking Marron’s head back and forth excitedly, soliciting a groan from the other girl.

            “Mimi…save me…” Marron whined as she reached out for the brunette faunus girl sitting in front of her. The girl didn’t respond, her head hung low and her wolf-like ears drooping with it.

            “You monster…” she whispered in response.

            Marron apparently knew something Ruby didn’t, for instead of confusion, she merely reacted in utter shock. “You’re _still_ stuck on that?! I gave it to you an hour ago!”

            At this point the brunette swerved violently towards Marron, her voice loud and melodramatic as she shouted at the girl. _“THEY ONLY WANTED TO BE HAPPY!”_

_“It’s fiction!”_

            “Girls! Please!” Glynda rose her voice sternly just as the red haired girl squeezed out from her seat across the room and sprinted up to step between the two. After a moment, Marron sighed, Mimi’s face contorted into a look of devastation that almost seemed forced, and “Reggie” chuckled nervously as Luna hugged Marron’s head and hummed like a happy child.

            “Alrighty then…” Marron murmured before wrapping one arm around both Reggie and Mimi’s stomachs and lifting them up like potato sacks, which resulted a very satisfied Reggie and a mildly confused Mimi whose expression was somewhere between rage and despair. Luna, on the other hand, continued to hum as Marron navigated the steps down to where Ruby was trembling in utter fear. She gulped a little as Marron finally paused in front of her, her eyes traveling up to meet the girl’s apathetic grey eyes. The redhead was silent for a moment before letting out another soft groan.

            “Great. I’m still surrounded by short people.”

            “Fight me,” her team said in unison as Reggie poked her in the side, Mimi punched her in the stomach, and Luna smacked her fist against the crown of her head.

            “Rude,” Marron managed to cough as she continued towards the door.

            Ruby stared at the display for a while before Blake and Weiss nudged her and reminded her that she was supposed to go with them. She had been frightened only moments before, but after getting a good look at them all up close, they were less terrifying and more…unusual. It seemed that her first experience teaching was going to be an interesting one.

oooOOOooo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Rosewick trash Peeves reporting in and hello, I am dead inside. RWBY was my cause of death. Rip me. So I distracted myself with this dorkiness. Hope you like it. Yes, I’m aware there’s no Roman, but I promise he’ll be back next chapter. So…the official debut of team ALRM…I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. So…I feel like I need to put an addendum to how this fic will work. To start, if it weren’t already obvious, this is slow burn Rosewick, and thanks to the most recent canon events, the time it’ll take for it to be realized increased—kinda dramatically._
> 
> _As an addition to that…due to the increase and other canon events…Rosewick will not be the only romantic pairing for Ruby or Roman to appear in this. The story will still predominantly focus on the development of their relationship…but they won’t be consistently single for the time leading up to their romantic relations. So uh…be warned there will be upcoming chapters that include hints of Lancaster and Romaneo…some hints larger than others._
> 
> _For those of you who’d like a better visual on the members of team ALRM, here’s a[link](http://alice--with-a-bowtie.tumblr.com/post/137536737208/team-alrm-doodles-for-in-the-arms-of-a-thief) to some sketches I made of them_
> 
> _Anywho, Rosewick trash Peeves out until next chapter._


	6. A Well Timed Interruption

# A Well Timed Interruption

            Ruby was finding and amount of difficulty. On one hand, team ALRM was much less intimidating than she had anticipated, but on another…getting to know them had proven itself challenging once they’d reached her favorite tree in the courtyard. Before she could utter a word, Regalia was leaning on the tree with Luna sitting comfortably in her lap, blushing somewhat fiercely as the smaller girl teased her. Marron and Marmalade sat only a few feet away—well, Marron was actually laying down and it seemed as if Marmalade was trying to pick a fight by throwing grass at her. They had become entirely engrossed in their own little worlds and Ruby was…not quite sure how to grab their attention.

            “U-Um…” The four girls’ eyes swerved towards her, making her jolt a little. “So…Professor Goodwitch already introduced me, but I suppose…well, hi, I’m Ruby…it’s nice to meet you all.”

            They all stared at her silently for a moment until Marron finally spoke up again. “We don’t bite, you know.”

            “I—well uh—“

            “And, no offense meant, but we kinda already know everything about you. Luna here has been a fan of yours since we were in our second year at Signal.”

            “Hello!” Luna called cheerfully, earning herself a protective hug from Regalia.

            “You…uh…everything?”

            “Her nerdness has got your entire life story memorized, dude,” Mimi spoke up as she dropped a large chunk of grass onto Marron’s face. “She could probably recite the exact date and time of your first sneeze.”

            “Oh…um…well…that’s uh…nice…and…not creepy at all…”

            Mimi snorted at that. “We know, she has a problem.”

            “When Luna loves something, it’s go big or go home…” Marron murmured as she picked the grass clump off of her face and lobbed it back towards Mimi, hesitating only a moment more before grinning at Regalia. “Right, Reggie?”

            “Fight me,” Reggie replied softly as the blush on her face became nearly fluorescent.

            “Mmm…nah, too much effort.”

            “Alright, so…maybe you could all…tell me about yourselves?”

            “…Hi, I’m Marron, I’m trying to take a nap, the dweeb trying to fight me with grass is Marmalade, but you can call her Mimi, and the two over there are Reggie and Luna. I sleep, Luna and Mimi fight anything that moves, and Reggie makes sure we hit our blushing quota each month.”

            “Hey!”

            “Don’t yell at me for being right.”

            Ruby snorted a bit, and Reggie pouted a bit before snuggling against Luna and grumbling. The girl in her lap was either too excited to care, or just hadn’t noticed. “Can I ask some questions now?”

            “Oh no…” Marron mumbled.

            Ruby raised her eyebrows, her eyes flicking across the smaller girl carefully. She recounted her introduction briefly and wondered what more Luna could possibly have to ask. “Uh…sure…?”

            “What’s it like to go super fast?”

            “Well, it’s uh…it’s kinda fun…”

            “Can you teach me to go super fast?”

            “I…don’t think semblances can be taught…”

            “How many Grimm have you killed?”

            “…A lot?”

            “What's the toughest fight you've ever had?”

            “I’d say that Cinder was my toughest opponent.”

            “Do you have a favorite Grimm to fight?”

            “…Nevermores are pretty challenging…?”

            “If you had to pick a favorite teammate, who would it be?”

            “Yang.”

            “Do you have a favorite student?”

            Ruby withered a bit at that. “I-I only just met you guys, how could I have a favorite?”

            “Who’s your favorite student?”

            Ruby’s eye’s wandered the group for a few moments before she named one of them at random. “Marron.”

            “Sweet, I’m never the favorite,” Marron remarked.

            “Fight me, Marron!” Luna yelled, nearly pouncing out of Reggie’s lap towards Marron before the red-haired girl held her back.

            “Did…was I supposed to choose someone else…?”

            “Well I’m no expert on Luna’s thought process but…yes,” Marron noted apathetically as she sat up and stuck her tongue out at the white haired girl.

            “Oh-uh well…I-I didn’t mean any…” Ruby trailed off as she heard her ring tone go off on her scroll, and she fumbled to reach it, smiling nervously at the bickering girls as she answered the call, noting the caller id only briefly before pressing the phone to her ear. “Perry, can I call you back later? I’m in the middle of meeting my team.”

            _[“Well you could call back later, Red, but by then I think Perry will have noticed that I borrowed his phone.”]_

            Ruby’s eyes widened as she recognized the caller, and she swerved on her heels, scampering a little away from team ALRM. “Tor—how are you calling me?! I thought you were going to be out of contact!”

            _[“For all intents and purposes, I am, I simply…acquired a temporary means of communication from Perry.”]_

            “You acquired a…you _stole_ Perry’s phone?!”

            _[“I prefer to call it borrowing without permission.”]_

            “That’s what stealing is!”

            _[“Do you mean to insinuate that people give back things they steal? Because, as a thief, I can confidently say that is almost never how it works.”]_

            Ruby let out a soft groan. “What do you want?

            _[“Well, it came to my attention that I have a job to complete for tomorrow, and thanks to a certain someone, I can’t get in contact with the client to schedule a meeting.”]_

            “You couldn’t call them like you’re calling me right now?”

            _[“Well I could, but Qrow and I prefer to contact each other through email, so I don’t know his phone number and he threatened to throw me in a jail cell if I ever emailed him from an account other than my own.”]_

            “…My uncle is one of your clients too?”

            _[“You are remarkably quick on the uptake today, Red.”]_

            “Shut up, that was only because I was sleepy! And how could my uncle be one of your clients? He usually goes on reconnaissance missions.”

            _[“Sometimes he needs to go through historical documents to gather information for his missions, so he has me go through those archives for him and highlight the important bits. He claims that it’s all to save him time, but honestly I get the feeling that he just enjoys making me suffer.”]_

            “So…you need me to give him a meeting time?”

            _[“Actually, I was going to have you deliver the file for me, after you come over at six tonight with coffee, help me finish compiling the info, and make me dinner.”]_

            “What?! Why would I do any of that?!”

            _[“Because you owe me a favor.”]_

            “That’s four favors!”

            _[“Actually it’s one large favor that comes in separate parts.”]_

            “Four favors!”

            _[“Well if it’s such an inconvenience, then you can be the one to tell your uncle that he won’t be able to go on his mission at the end of the week. I would be careful though, I’ve heard that he gets crabby when his jobs get delayed.”]_

            “…He…He does?”

            _[“Oh definitely, and while he probably won’t take it out on you, he just might take it out on those poor incoming freshman at Beacon. Those poor kids, doomed to be beaten around by their crazy drunken sparring teacher in their second week of school.”]_

            “…You’re trying to appeal to my conscience right now, aren’t you?”

            _[“Come on, Red, think of the children.”]_

            Ruby shifted her weight from foot to foot, biting her lip a bit as she considered the request. “Fine!” she blurted out after a moment more. “But you have to pay me back for the coffee!”

            _[“Deal. Pleasure doing business with you, Red. See you tonight.”]_

            The receiver clicked before Ruby could give a retort, and she growled before pocketing her scroll and turning back to the team behind her, who had stopped arguing and were now staring at her intently. She chuckled nervously and brought a hand up to scratch the back of her head as Marron spoke up again.

            “So. Your boyfriend?”

            Ruby nearly choked on air. “No! Never in a million years! Gross!”

            Marron’s grey eyes wandered her apathetically before the girl smirked and leaned towards her partner. “Ten bucks says she’ll do him within the year.”

            “I will take that bet,” Mimi remarked, and Ruby withered in response.

            “…I take it back,” she spoke up again after a moment, “Reggie’s my favorite.”

            “Dammit, I was so close to being loved.”

oooOOOooo

            Roman knew that he could have easily asked Ruby to relay a time to Qrow for him. He knew that that would have been a viable solution that would have been much simpler, but teasing Ruby for the entire night had just been an idea that was far too fun to pass up. He smiled as he let his arm fall to his side and watched the streets below from his bedroom window. They were as busy as ever, and on the surface of things, nothing had really changed since the war. To plenty of people, he supposed they hadn’t. Part of him wished he could live the blissfully innocent lives of those few. A knock came up at the door, and he turned to see Neo, who was sparsely dressed in nothing but the shirt he’d been wearing the night before.

            _“Who was that?”_ Neo signed as she strolled towards him.

            “A client,” he replied as he pocketed his scroll. “You know, as oversized as that shirt is on you, it really isn’t covering enough.”

            _“As if you mind.”_

“You’re right. I don’t,” Roman smiled as Neo lifted onto her toes and ran her hands up his bare chest. “You weren’t as aggressive as usual last night.”

            _“I haven’t been as sexually repressed as you.”_

            “Oh? Back to one night stands I take it?”

            _“No. I have a client that’s more than willing to stay the night if I ask.”_

            “Lucky guy.”

            _“She would say so.”_

            “Aha. I take it that it’s not a serious relationship?”

            _“Strictly work and sex. She knows that.”_

            “I’m not gonna get to make booty calls if it becomes serious, am I?”

            _“It probably won’t become serious, but yes, I imagine that you won’t be allowed.”_

            “Damn, guess I’ll have to fall back on Perry.”

            _“You sound upset by that.”_

            “I don’t know where he’s been.”

            _“You don’t know where I’ve been either.”_

            “…This is true.”

            _“So. That client…was it Red?”_

Roman perked an eyebrow as Neo backed away from him and shuffled towards the bed. “Did Perry tell you?”

            _“He might have mentioned your recent interest in her. Funny, back during the war I was certain you hated her.”_

“I did, but I hate everyone that gets in my way,” Roman shrugged, “And judging by the fact that she had no idea we were still alive, I doubt she had any direct influence in our new line of work.”

            _“And that makes you want to sleep with her?”_

“No. Her being beautiful and amusing makes me want to sleep with her, her no longer being a thorn in my side prevents me from rethinking my logic.”

            _“Hm.”_ Neo collected her clothing from the side of the bed and began redressing herself. _“So your cute fetish outweighs your sense of caution it seems.”_

            “Why should I be cautious? I’m not actively trying to get into her pants, Christ, I’m not even expressing an interest. What’s wrong with secretly appreciating the concept?”

            _“It’s not that it’s wrong, Roman, it’s that knowing you, you won’t be able to hide that ‘appreciation’ forever, and Ruby Rose is still not someone you should up and let your guard down around. As far as we know, she still sees you as an enemy.”_

“She’ll grow out of that, just like Ice Queen.”

            _“As if you really think Weiss has grown out of her mistrust for you.”_

            “She’s comfortable enough to be civil.”

            _“But you know she doesn’t trust you. If there was even a little evidence that you stepped out of line, she wouldn’t hesitate to turn on you.”_

            Roman averted his eyes from Neo, but she simply walked back to him and caught his attention again by placing a hand on his cheek.

            _“I know you get bored with this lifestyle, Roman, but please. Don’t get stupid in your quest for some excitement.”_

            “…If it’ll help you sleep at night.”

            Neo graced him with an exasperated stare before pecking him on the cheek and making her way for the door. Roman smirked and followed her into his living room, stopping at the archway that led to his front hall before speaking up again.

            “Do you think you can use the spare key I gave you next time? I don’t think the front door can take much more abuse.”

            _“If it’ll help you sleep at night.”_ Neo hesitated at the door a moment before signing again. _“Promise me that you’ll at least try to rethink your logic a little, okay?”_

            “You know I’m not that rash. Oh, and next time, I’m topping.”

            _“Take care of yourself, you big baby.”_

Roman chuckled at that. “It’s always a pleasure, Neo.”

oooOOOooo


	7. Subtle Differences

# Subtle Differences

            Foul dispositions were something of an uncommon occurrence for Ruby, but then, getting coffee for the former criminal Roman Torchwick was also fairly unusual. She wished she could say that having to get Roman coffee was the only thing irritating her, but as she stomped up the steps to his apartment, she could still hear Marron’s words ringing in her ears. How could she even make the assumption that Roman was her _boyfriend_? Had she even once sounded happy in that conversation? Or was there something to the way she’d talked to him that she was missing? Ruby bit her lip as she finally made it to his front door, knocking hesitantly as she stared ahead blankly.

            Was she too casual? True, she’d adjusted to the idea of Roman being a moderately harmless facet to her life nowadays, but surely she hadn’t grown comfortable enough around him to actually make it seem like she enjoyed his company. She shouldn’t have thought of it like that, for as the door in front of her opened she caught herself wondering if she really disliked spending time with him all that much.

            “Well I’m going to count that as the first time I’ve seen someone stare at a coffee cup as if it gravely offended them.”

            Ruby jolted a little, startled as she looked up to see Roman smirking lazily down at her. His smirk widened ever so minutely as her eyes met his, and he looked back into his apartment briefly before turning back to her and tilting his head.

            “You know, the door was open, like it usually is,” he remarked as he leaned forward to take one of the coffee cups from her.

            “…Sorry, I forgot,” Ruby mumbled as she stepped through the doorway, internally cursing herself for suddenly recognizing how attractive the man was when he smiled. It was amazing what one unwarranted comment could do to alter a perspective, and Ruby was honestly not too pleased with the results. She had just barely come to terms with the concept that Roman was her ally, now was far from the right time to start considering how physically attractive he was. Ruby stalled in the hallway, retracing over her own thoughts anxiously. Ally? When had she come to terms with that idea?

            Ruby bit her lip again as she followed Roman into the living area, her eyes wandering the shelves of his apartment in attempt to avoid looking at him before he spoke again.

            “Alright, so…looking back on my logic, I don’t really trust you to compile these files, so I suppose you’ll just make dinner.”

            Ruby growled a little bit in her throat as she replied. “Any requests?”

            “Well, there’s marinated chicken in the fridge that you can grill, and I’m pretty sure it’s next to impossible to mess up a salad…I shouldn’t give you ideas though, should I?”

            She fumed a little at the taunt, her features contorted in slight agitation before she turned and stormed into his kitchen without so much as another word. She was reading too much into this—she just had to focus on getting through the night without losing her temper…and without discovering any more…concerning thoughts about Torchwick. Ruby came to a halt in front of the fridge, keeping her frame stiff as she spun to face it and opened the doors.

            She took a moment to breath—she couldn’t keep this fuming state up all night, and if she started slamming around dishes Roman was more than a little likely to come in and check on her. Ruby let out a soft sigh and reached for the chicken on the middle shelf, placing it onto the counter softly before getting out the ingredients for a salad. Ruby was moderately confused by Roman’s insistence on making her cook—she wasn’t particularly good at cooking, granted, it had been a few years since she’d set a kitchen on fire, but she’d become mediocre in the skill at best. He probably cooked better than she did.

            Ruby considered this a moment as she placed a frying pan on the stove and began to heat it up. She could always ask Perry or Weiss about it, but…she wouldn’t want to bother them with the question, and…Weiss might read into it wrong. She considered it for a bit longer as she placed the chicken on the frying pan, thinking that maybe she could just ask…but he would probably tease her forever about it. Ruby’s lips curled up slightly as she imagined how hard he’d laugh. As irritating as it would be…she could appreciate the thought. There was something about it that was just…comforting, if that was the word.

            Suddenly she heard her scroll go off in her pocket, effectively snapping her back to reality and, as she read the message, making her heart drop into her stomach like lead. It was from Jaune.

_[6:15pm][Jaune] [You still haven’t explained Torchwick to me]_

            Ruby bit her lip as she reread the text a few times, but instead of answering, she elected instead to place her scroll on the counter and focus on cooking. She couldn’t believe herself, having adjusted to Roman so easily—he was an awful person, his actions during the war said as much. Nine years didn’t change that. Did it? Ruby pondered the thought with painful consideration. She’d always been one to think that people could change for the better. Weiss, Blake…heck, even Perry…didn’t they prove that? Her phone lit up again with another message.

_[6:20pm][Jaune][I want to talk about this. Are you free right now?]_

Ruby hesitated again before letting out a soft sigh and sending a short response.

_[6:21pm][Ruby][Sorry Jaune…I’m…kinda busy right now…]_

            Ruby put her scroll down again, praying that Jaune wouldn’t ask her where she was. She didn’t want him to know she was with Roman. She didn’t want to consider why she was afraid of that. Luckily as the screen lit up again, it became clear that Jaune had fallen into his age old habit of sending a barrage of texts the moment she said she was busy. Ruby snorted a bit under her breath as she glanced between the chicken and her scroll in an attempt to read each notification as it popped up.

_[6:22pm][Jaune][Oh. Okay.]_

_[6:22pm][Jaune][Are you free tomorrow then?]_

_[6:22pm][Jaune][We could get coffee together?]_

_[6:23pm][Jaune][Maybe?]_

_[6:23pm][Jaune][After we meet our teams, I mean]_

_[6:25pm][Jaune][Or there’s a bakery that opened near Beacon]_

_[6:26pm][Jaune][I think.]_

_[6:26pm][Jaune][We could go there?]_

            Ruby smiled lightly again and unlocked her scroll as she flipped the meat on the frying pan. It wouldn’t hurt to offer him a response.

_[6:28pm][Ruby][The bakery sounds nice]_

_[6:28pm][Jaune][Okay! So…I’ll meet you outside Beacon around…6pm?]_

_[6:30pm][Ruby][Sounds good to me :) ]_

_[6:30pm][Jaune][Okay! See you then!]_

            Ruby chuckled a bit at his enthusiasm and returned her focus entirely to the meal on the stove for the next few minutes, only tearing her eyes away from the chicken in order to cut vegetables for the salad. She paused as she was tossing the salad to imitate Roman. Impossible to mess up a salad. Well she could smother his in dressing just to spite him, but she figured that would be a little too mean-spirited. After a few more minutes, she served the food on two sets of plates and put them on the same tray, shuffling into the living area slowly as she tried not to think of just how much she felt like a maid.

            If Roman could hear her think that, he’d probably never let her live it down. Of course, it was his fault, asking her to cook in the first place. She didn’t owe him another meal. Ruby’s lips pursed together when she cleared the archway into his living room, and she looked up from the tray, her mouth open with the words of protest she’d forgotten earlier on the tip of her tongue. But they stayed there. Her mouth glued itself shut, her feet stalled in place and her memory wiped itself clean of the messages she’d gotten from Jaune.

            And there he was, sitting on the couch with a file held in right hand while the long fingers of his left curled over his chin. His one visible eye seemed absolutely fastened to the page, his lips had turned into a soft smirk only barely visible behind his hand, and his fiery orange hair framed his face in a manner that, even for a split moment, looked beautiful to her. It took her too long to remember who she was staring at, far too long to connect the name to the face she’d caught herself admiring. So long, in fact, that it took his gaze locking with hers for the recognition to fully settle in.

            “Red, I know I’m handsome, but isn’t it a little rude to stare?”

            “I-I wasn’t staring!” Ruby stammered immediately, her eyes blinking rapidly as she hurtled forwards to the coffee table in front of him. “Don’t flatter yourself,” she muttered softly as she slammed the tray down.

            “If you say so, Red. Alright, I need to make myself more coffee. This job is going to take longer to compile than I thought…”

            “Are you sure you don’t want me to make it for you?” Ruby growled.

            “After last time? Hard pass. I need something a little stronger.” Roman rose up to his feet and did a small stretch, only to pause and chuckle as he noticed Ruby glaring at him. “Oh don’t be so sour, darling. Even if your coffee was good, it still wouldn’t be enough to help me pull an all nighter.”

            Ruby stalled at that. “…You know that’s not healthy, right?”

            “Neither is missing a deadline, to be honest. I’ll sleep once I’m done. Thank you for voicing your concern though. I’m flattered.”

            Ruby huffed and flopped down on the couch as Roman strolled into the kitchen. She covered her face with her hands after a moment and desperately tried to convince herself that she hadn’t just caught herself staring at him. That she hadn’t found herself frozen at the realization of how…attractive he was. Her eyes were betraying her, and where they wandered…her heart was already starting to follow.

Ruby let out a long, heavy sigh. Just one night in the same room with him. It would only be a few hours. Their only relationship to each other was strictly a business one. He was not attractive, she didn’t like being around him, and even if he was her ally now, they were not friends. But thinking it only did so much. She had since begun to wonder what harm would come from befriending him. She let out another lofty sigh before peeling her hands away from her face and picking up her dinner plate. It was going to be a long night.

oooOOOooo

            Roman would be lying if he said that he couldn't recognize a bad mood when he saw one. At first, he'd been under the impression that Ruby's irritation simply stemmed from having to be around him, but after catching her gaze a few minutes ago, he'd gotten to thinking that it might be quite a bit more than that. That had not been a hateful stare…or a friendly one for that matter. For all intents and purposes, he'd just caught Ruby checking him out. He was admittedly pleased by the thought, even a little amused, but he couldn't bring himself to appreciate it wholeheartedly.

            Considering her reaction to having it pointed out, and her mood upon arrival, there was a good chance that she neither had the intent or desire to see him that way. And then…admittedly Neo's warnings from earlier had left a considerable weight on his thoughts. Had he really warmed up to Ruby so easily? True, it was always good fun to tease her, but he didn't think he'd gotten too reckless. He wouldn't even consider her a friend yet, just an attractive woman he worked for. Roman winced slightly at the mental description—that made her sound uncomfortably similar to Cinder, at least in respect to her position in his life. Not good comparison in the slightest.

            Roman didn't really think he was getting too close, yet, at the same time, here he was, eating dinner with her in his living room while absently sorting through various notes for Qrow's file. He'd glanced up at her occasionally, but unless they'd wandered into a bad romantic comedy by mistake, she'd blatantly avoided looking towards him. He was tempted to comment on that behavior, but figured it best to keep his mouth shut. And so, they ate dinner in silence—that is, until Ruby felt it right to speak up again.

            “So…um…what am I supposed to do for the next few hours…?”

            Roman glanced up from his current pad of paper and studied the woman for a spell. “What do you mean?”

            “Well…you said you don’t trust me to help you sort out the file but…since you can’t contact Qrow…you’ll need me to stay until it’s done, right?”

            “That is the solution I had in mind.”

            “So what am I supposed to do until you’re done?”

            Roman’s eye wandered Ruby apathetically, and she shrunk a little under his gaze before he spoke again. “There’s a hologram projector across from the couch if you want to watch a broadcast or play some games, otherwise, you could always rely on the age old activity that is casual conversation. I’m not incapable of paying attention to two things at once.”

            “I—I don’t really know what we could talk about…” Ruby mumbled as she stood up from the couch and turned on the projector.

            “Well, we do have at least three mutual acquaintances that we could complain about. Or we could start with an easy question. For example,” Roman flipped his notepad closed and grabbed one of the books from the pile he’d stacked at the edge of the coffee table. “How did your meeting go?”

            “My wha…?”

            “The meeting with team ALRM, Red.”

            “Oh. Uhm,” Ruby flipped through a few channels on the projector and sat down in front of the coffee table quietly, her lips pursed and her brow knit together before she spoke up again. “It was…weird.”

            “Oh?”

            “Uh…well…Luna…Luna…may or may not idolize me…?”

            “Ah, yes…that. Glynda did mention it when I was gathering my information, I didn’t think it was too important so I left it out of the file.”

            “And…uh…Marron was…she…she laid down on a desk with her back facing Glynda.”

            “So either she’s fearless, stupid, or both.”

            “And then she literally picked up her teammates and carried them out of the room…?”

            “Ah…” Roman’s eyes wandered the walls of his living area for a moment as a smirk slowly formed on his face. “So you could say…”

            “Don’t.”

            “She really carries the team?”

            Ruby turned to glare at Roman, but he merely grinned in response. “That pun is old and awful.”

            “Oh? Old?”

            Ruby hung her head dramatically. “Luna made it too…”

            “And knowing what I know about your family, I’ll bet Yang and Qrow aren’t far behind…”

            “You guys are all so mean…”

            “I try.”

            Ruby puffed out her cheeks and turned back to the projector screen. “I hate being outnumbered.”

            “Well, you know what they say, if you can’t beat them, join them.”

            “I will never join your cult of bad comedy.”

            “That’s what they all say,” Roman replied with a sly grin, “And besides, Weiss has already told me about your little ‘track record’.”

            “I was so careful…”

            “If careful is synonymous with making Jaune cry tears of agony in Beacon’s library for an hour straight, then sure Red, you were careful.”

            “Oh…” Ruby smirked back at him mischievously, “so she told you that story.”

            “I both envy your power and pity the unfortunate soul that you used it on.”

            “He recovered just fine.”

            “If thinking that helps you sleep at night,” Roman smirked softly as he flipped through his book and jotted down a few more notes. They sank into silence again, and he returned his attention fully to his notes while Ruby flipped the channel to a cartoon. As he worked, he considered Neo’s words further, along with the expression he’d caught Ruby wearing less than an hour earlier. Roman could say with confidence that Red probably wasn’t someone who could handle a strictly sexual relationship, and with exception to their last two encounters, they’d done little to get to know each other.

            “It’s weird.”

            “Hm?” Roman glanced up at Ruby abruptly, snapping back to reality as she continued.

            “N-Nothing, it’s—it’s just…weird thinking of you and Weiss as friends…’cause, y’know, she really doesn’t warm up to people easily. It took her and Perry years to sort out all of their differences…”

            "Well, we have had a year and a half to get to know each other," Roman noted, "things tend to change with time."

            "I-I suppose they do. I guess you really have changed…"

            He smirked lightly. "Oh? So you admit that I've changed now? I'm flattered."

            Ruby shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, maybe your attitude hasn't changed all that much but…you're an informant for Vale now, and it's been years since you broke the law…I suppose I'd be lying to say that you aren't better now…"

            Roman's smile slowly dissipated as Ruby spoke, his brow furrowed ever so softly. He knew that she had a habit of naïveté, but perhaps…perhaps it was so vexing because working for Vale was quite possibly one of the least positive things that had happened to him over the years. "Ah yes Red, because working for the government is all sunshine and rainbows, isn't it?" Roman hadn't intended to speak up against her misinformation, but by the time he realized the sarcastic thought had left his lips, he'd already locked eyes with the ever confused Ruby Rose.

            "Is…Is it not?"

            "Well that depends. Would you like a job if you were given no say in the matter?"

            "I…I—"

            “Or what if your clientele was full of entitled huntsmen and huntresses who have no qualms telling you how lucky you are to be alive, let alone be given a second chance?"

            "That's—"

            "I know you don't know much about this subject, so let me be clear: the only thing that changed when Cinder turned me over to the council is who was holding a gun to my head and telling me to be grateful." Roman held Ruby's wide eyed stare for another moment before breaking away and lifting up off the couch. "I'm missing a book for this job…"

            Roman began to saunter over to the spiral staircase, but just as he reached the landing, he heard something rush towards him, followed by Ruby's small hand stopping him by the arm. Roman clicked his tongue in annoyance as he heard the woman speak.

            "Wait!"

            He sighed and paused with one foot already on the step, turning only enough to see Ruby in his peripheral vision. "What?"

            "I…" her grasp on his shirt softened, her gaze flitted away from him and fastened itself to the floor. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you, I just…I thought maybe you liked being an info broker, I mean you're really good at it and you clearly work a lot so I figured you might like it I mean I know you don't have to love something to be good at it or work hard but…" by now Ruby had brought her hand up to the back of her head as she shifted her gaze around the room as if it were fastened to a jumpy laser pointer. Roman softened a little as she continued to ramble, snorting a bit at her progressive descent into awkwardness.

            “…Ruby,” he addressed her quietly, halting her mid-sentence and drawing her eyes back to his. “Even if it hadn’t bothered me, I actually am missing a book for this job.”

            She stared blankly for a spell before remembering her words. “So…so you aren’t angry…?”

            “Mildly irritated,” Roman admitted, “but it’s really not a problem, Red. You’ve done much worse before. That said, I’m still flattered by your concern.”

            Ruby puffed her cheeks out a little and crossed her arms. “Well—Well you’re supposed to apologize when you upset someone…not to say that I don’t mean it, I mean, I do mean it, it’s just that when I upset people I apologize for upsetting them that’s…” she trailed off as Roman leaned down to her height, her eyes averting to the floor as he drew a slight bit closer. He noted briefly to himself that he was close enough to kiss her, but brushed the thought off as quickly as it occurred, smirking only slightly as she failed to shrink away from him.

            “Can I go get my book now?”

            “Oh. Uhm…err…yeah. Sorry bout that.”

            “It’s fine, Red. Just so long as you switch the broadcast to something other than children’s cartoons by the time I get back down.”

            “Change the…w-what do you want me to change it to…?”

            He paused halfway up the steps, pondering the question only a moment before leaning over the railing and gracing her with a sly grin. “Use your imagination.”

oooOOOooo


	8. The Absence of Warmth

            Roman had woken up slowly the next day, getting a surprisingly good night’s rest for having passed out on the couch shortly after finishing his job. He hadn’t questioned the absence of the file or Ruby when he’d finally come to; the warmth on his left side and vaguely lucid memories of the night before told him that, in all likelihood, Ruby had unintentionally used him as a pillow last night and, with him barely coherent enough to finish writing up Qrow’s file, he’d sorely lacked the energy to move her. She probably hadn’t appreciated waking up to that, but he wouldn’t be able to confirm to her that nothing had happened until he finished compiling his new alias sometime this afternoon.

            Roman groaned and lifted himself off the couch just in time for lunch, shuffling into his kitchen with a soft yawn and making his way to fridge to collect ingredients. His bleary thoughts focused on the night before, causing him to smile a little at the amount he’d managed to learn about Ruby. To start, she had a dorky love for action and spy movies despite knowing that neither were realistic, a guilty pleasure for cooking shows, and she was a very sore winner (she’d coaxed him into taking a break to play a fighting game with her once or twice).

            And then, there were the things that he was starting to get a better sense of, like her social awkwardness, hyperactive tendencies, or her innocent nature. Ruby was like an open book when it came to her emotions, which was good, because he wasn’t always the best at empathy (in fact, he was still pretty piss poor at it). Roman hesitated a little as two thoughts from the night before returned to his mind: Ruby staring at him, and Neo’s warning. Last night had been far more fun than he’d ever imagined having, and well…admittedly the idea of spending time with Ruby again just for the heck of it sounded pretty nice. But in all likelihood, that desire was not reciprocated.

            Roman considered this further as he prepared himself a sandwich and sat down to eat, reviewing his list of jobs on his scroll and considering how much free time he could afford to have in the coming weeks. Luckily it seemed like the jobs were layered thin at the moment, which left him more time to actually go outside and socialize a little, though he would likely stick to spending time with his usual friends in their usual spots. Nowadays, stepping out of line had some rather aggravating consequences, and challenging the rules had far too many fatal possibilities for Roman to consider leaving his assigned seat.

            Roman scrolled over his planner apathetically as he plotted out work time and free days. By the time he finished up his lunch, he’d scheduled out all his work time, and had moved on to deciding who he wanted to make plans with, and where he’d like to go. Spending time with Neo would be his first choice, yet, that would all rely on her informant work being just as slow…Perry and Weiss would probably be available for a few more weeks, after all, they probably wouldn’t send the senior teams into the field a week into school. And then Junior…Junior had been stunningly busier than him lately, and it had made finding time to talk to the man extremely challenging.

            It was a shame, honestly—he and his childhood friends hadn’t managed to find time to spend as a whole group in a few years. Someone was always missing, whether it was because of work or circumstance. Roman sighed and closed his planner, figuring it was useless to try scheduling out his free time if he hadn’t finished setting up a new alias. And so, for the next couple hours, he set to work doing just that, finally putting the finishing touches on an identity he’d started last Monday, a man that he was calling Chartreuse Pennyworth. And by four o’clock, he’d put enough finishing touches to send out a few messages to his closer friends, before setting to work on sending more encrypted messages to his clientele list.

            A few minutes into this task, Roman’s scroll began to vibrate, and Junior’s number popped up on the screen. He let out a lofty sigh as he answered the call. “Amazing.”

            _[“…What is?”]_

            “You live.”

            _[“…You aren’t funny.”]_

            “Au contraire, my old friend, I am hilarious. But enough about me, did you need something? I wasn’t expecting a call so soon.”

            _[“Ah…well…about that…you and I both know that nowadays I don’t tend to worry about you.”]_

            “Hoo boy, that’s not a good sign,” Roman said with a smirk as he slid off the barstool he’d been occupying for upwards of four hours and strolled into his living room. “Alright, what am I being mommed for?”

            _[“I was hoping you could tell me, because I’ve got Neo, Perry and even Weiss telling me that they’re concerned about you and they are doing a piss poor job of explaining why.”]_

            “Christ…” Roman held the bridge of his nose in exasperation for a while before speaking again. “Well, I can tell you that they’re all blowing this out of proportion.”

            _[“As much as I like knowing your opinion, skip to the part where you tell me what ‘this’ is.”]_

            “Hmm…I might have mentioned having a slight interest in Ruby Rose to Perry.”

            _[“Ruby?”]_

            “Yeah.”

            _[“As in, Blondie’s sister, Ruby?”]_

“That’s the one…”

            _[“Huh. Okay, I’m siding with them on this one. Have you lost your mind?”]_

            “Oh, thank you for the vote of confidence.”

            _[“Roman, she’s a huntress, not only that, she’s a famous one. Famous for, oh, what do you know, defeating you and your boss.”]_

“Alright, first of all, Ruby didn’t catch me, Glynda did, second of all, I mentioned finding her attractive to Perry one time. Hate to break it to ya, Junior, but that’s not what we call ‘acting on it’.”

            _[“Weiss and Neo claim that you’ve been flirting.”]_

            “Not excessively.”

            _[“Roman.”]_

            “Look, Junior, I am glad that you took the time out of your life to talk to me, but I’d really rather you didn’t scold me for something I’m not doing. I know better than to actually get involved with Red.”

            _[“…Okay.”]_

“And, more to the point,” Roman noted irritably, “You’ve been trying to get me to make nice with the huntsmen and huntresses for almost a decade. Is there something that excludes Red from the running?”

            _[“Do you really want me to answer that?”]_

“Why else would I ask?”

            _[“Hm. Well if you really want the list…to start, she’s out of your league…”]_

“That is far too vague, irrelevant and false.”

            _[“She’s ten years younger than you…”]_

“An irrelevant point when you consider that we’re both adults and we still aren’t taking about romantic compatibility.”

            _[“And I need two hands to count the number of people that would gut you for getting close to her. Need I remind you that she’s related to the most terrifying woman walking the planet?”]_

“As much as it fascinates me that you haven’t recovered from having your jewels crushed ten years ago, I still haven’t gotten close to her.”

            _[“Good.”]_

            “But I can’t guarantee that it’s gonna stay that way.”

            _[“Roman.”]_

“Christ…you know what, is there some sort of problem with not caring if she wants to get close to me? Because I don’t care. If it’ll help you all sleep at night, I won’t try to get closer to her, but if she comes to me, I won’t stop her. And I would really appreciate it, if you, Neo and Perry would start respecting my intelligence, and stop acting like I don’t know what I’m doing.”

            _[“…Kid, you know I’m only looking out for you.”]_

“I am far too old to qualify as ‘kid’.”

            _[“But if you say you know what you’re doing, I’ll back you up. Perry and Neo just wanted me to talk to you about it. I’ll let them know to…?”]_

“Leave their noses out of it and stop treating me like I’m five.”

            _[“I’ll relay that first bit, but good fucking luck on that second part.”]_

            “I’ll get it to happen someday.”

_[“Sure you will.”]_

            Roman let out a soft sigh as he brought one hand up to hold the bridge of his nose again. "This is not the first conversation I wanted to have with you in a month…"

            _["…Shit. Has it really been that long?"]_

            "Yeah, it has. You were busy whenever I wasn't, remember?"

            _["Oh. So…how's work been going?"]_

            "As dreadful as ever," Roman replied flatly as he let his free arm flop down on the couch and stared up at the ceiling. "If it isn't boring, it's too dangerous, and most of the huntsmen I've done jobs for lately make me work on insane deadlines."

            _["Weren't your most recent clients Ruby and Weiss?"]_

            "Mm, try Ruby, Weiss, Qrow, and a few others."

            _["Oh…Qrow again."]_

            "I swear to god, that jackass doesn't even need an informant. He's just trying to make me fail."

            _["What was the order this time?"]_

            "A summary of every important fact and figure about Grimm, including theories of Grimm nesting grounds, a complete detailed list of all the Grimm discovered in a region he knows I didn't have on record and a detailed list of every illegal trade route known to have operated in that region since the Stone Age."

            _["Hm. How long did he give you?"]_

            "Well he sent the email request last Monday so…a week. I had Red deliver the file to him today."

            _["Wait, Ruby's taking it to him?"]_

            “She owed me a favor."

            _["How did she know to pick it up?"]_

            "She helped me compile it last night."

            _["…When did she leave?"]_

            "Don't know, I was asleep by then."

            _["Wow, this story keeps getting worse the more you speak. So, random question, did she stay the night?"]_

            Roman thought over the question for a moment. "Probably."

            _["Probably is not an answer, Roman."]_

            "…Yes."

            _["Oh fan-fucking-tastic…did you at least sleep far away from each other?"]_

            Roman didn't answer, so Junior chose instead to respond to his elongated pause.

            _["Your silence is not reassuring."]_

            "Oops."

            _["You know, for someone who claims to know what they're doing, you don't seem to be acting very cautiously."]_

            "Relax, Junior, I've got this under control…"

            _["Oh really? Hm. So did you, at all consider, when you were getting all intimate with Ruby—"]_

            "That is not what happened."

            _["That she's Qrow's niece? And Qrow actively hates you?"]_

            Roman blinked, sitting up on the couch as he contemplated this fact. After a while, rested his head in his hand and swore under his breath. "Look, I've been exhausted lately, I forgot that detail."

            _["What are the chances she won't say anything to him?"]_

            "Pretty high, I think. She flusters pretty easily, so I doubt she's about to blab about falling asleep on me last night."

            _["At the very least get in contact with her and make sure she knows not to confide in him about it."]_

            "'Cause if she does, my ass is grass?"

            _["Exactly. Alright, I need to get back to work. Take care of yourself, okay Roman?"]_

            "Yes mom."

            _["And for the love God, start watching your sass already."]_

oooOOOooo

            She wished she could say that she abhorred it. That the mere thought of having cuddled up to Roman in her sleep made her cringe with disgust, that the possibility that they'd done more within the hazy hours of her mental fatigue made her nauseous, but sadly, distaste for the situation was the one negative emotion that felt artificial and…forced. Everything else…the anxiety, the embarrassment, the uncertainty…everything else stemmed from the genuine part of her saying that, instead of hating what had happened, she'd enjoyed the warmth.

            Ruby bit her lip for what might've been the eighty seventh time that day as she stormed down one of Beacon's hallways and tried to tear her thoughts away from how…peaceful Roman had looked in his sleep. He'd seemed…soft, if that was the word she was looking for. She hadn’t instinctively backed away once she’d realized who he was. Ruby stalled in the hall and paced a small circle through the narrow space once or twice. Why hadn’t she backed away? She’d very nearly snuggled even closer to boot—why had she done that?

            She wasn’t supposed to enjoy his company. He wasn’t her friend, he wasn’t attractive, he was just her informant. Why couldn’t she convince herself to stop being curious? To stop wondering if they could become friends? To stop wanting to be his friend? The very notion was impossible, right? And then, she didn’t even want to touch on the disobedient part of her saying that she wanted much more than friendship. Ruby whimpered softly before stomping forward towards the sparing hall. She didn’t have the time to worry about this. She just had to deliver the stupid files to her uncle and that was it. That was the end of it. She wouldn’t have to even think about Roman again until she needed information for a mission.

            Ruby strode around the corner and made it to just a few paces outside the sparring hall before her scroll buzzed and diverted her off her path. Ruby swerved in the hall as she went to take out her scroll, her irritation stalled before she realized who the message was from.

_[4:15pm][042005-3770][Normally I would have sent a more encrypted message to you, Red, but unfortunately I have a pressing matter to discuss with you.]_

_[4:15pm][042005-3770][This is Roman, by the way]_

_[4:16pm][042005-3770][Just in case you hadn’t guessed]_

            Ruby sighed softly before unlocking her scroll and replying.

_[4:16pm][Ruby][What is it?]_

_[4:17pm][042005-3770][…It’s about last night]_

Her breath hitched slightly at that.

_[4:18pm][Ruby][…What about it?]_

_[4:18pm][042005-3770][Nothing happened, okay?]_

            Ruby swallowed hard as she stared at the text, wondering if it was at all ridiculous of her to feel comforted by the fact that he felt obligated to contact her about the incident.

_[4:19pm][Ruby][…Okay.]_

_[4:19pm][042005-3770][Please don’t tell Qrow about it though]_

            Ruby’s brow furrowed slightly at the request. Why her uncle knowing about it would matter at all to Roman? She shrugged it off and replied to the text anyway.

_[4:20pm][Ruby][I wasn’t planning on it]_

_[4:21pm][042005-3770][Good. See you around, Red.]_

            Ruby stared at the reply a long pause before closing her scroll and continuing down the hall. It was better not to think about it. She was almost to the sparring hall, almost done with all of this. She and Roman could go their separate ways in just a few more steps. But then another notification stopped her in her tracks. Part of her said that it’d be better to just ignore it, just assume that it was Roman teasing her and continue on her way. Sadly that wasn’t the part she had listened to, and as she pulled out her scroll, she recognized the number as Roman’s, but the message…was surprisingly not a taunt.

_[4:23pm][042005-3770][Actually, before I forget, Red, Perry and Weiss were gonna hit the bars with me next Friday. Care to join us?]_

Ruby frowned and reread over the text several times. This wasn’t something she owed him, or something she needed to do, or anything that helped with her missions. This was optional, this was for fun. It was…the exact opportunity that her curiosity needed to see if she and Roman could be friends, and the bane her caution’s existence. A chance to get to know him better. She should say no. It was better not to risk success. She needed to refuse before her friendliness made her regret it.

_[4:24pm][Ruby][uh…I’ll probably be busy then…]_

_[4:24pm][042005-3770][I see. Well we usually hit the Club around 8 or 9, if you change your mind]_

_[4:25pm][Ruby][…Okay, I’ll keep it in mind]_

            Ruby let out a soft sigh before shutting her scroll again. An open offer, huh? She wished she could say that she trusted herself not to go.

oooOOOooo

 


	9. Bonus: An Accidental First Date

# Bonus: An Accidental First Date

            “So what exactly is the deal with Torchwick? Why is that jackass still kicking?”

            “I don’t actually know why he’s still alive,” Ruby sighed as she and Jaune strolled towards the nearby bakery together, “I just know that he’s my new information broker and that he’s extremely annoying.”

            “I don’t think annoying is the term I’d use to describe a homicidal maniac.”

            “Jaune, he’s _harmless._ I actually checked the rules an informant has to follow with a few of our higher ups when they assigned him to me. He’s not allowed to carry a weapon, he’s not allowed to leave Vale without clearance, he can’t even own a safe-house without notifying the council.”

            “Like any of those things would stop that man.”

            “He’s also been at it since before the war ended, if that means anything,” Ruby sighed and swayed a bit as Jaune fixed a glare towards her, “I know, I know, it sounds like I’m defending him, but…well, he really is harmless.”

            “I still don’t trust him.”

            “Well, I don’t really trust him with anything other than the information he gives me. He’s really good with that.” She scuffed her boot against the sidewalk awkwardly as they finally reached the bakery. It was better not to mention the night before, or this morning’s invitation. She and Roman weren’t friends, no matter how much of her considered it. And either way, Jaune would be far less than happy to hear that she’d even given the idea thought. “So,” she chuckled nervously, “Shall we, Mr. Arc?”

            “Of course, Miss Rose,” Jaune laughed before holding his arm out to her, leading her to take it and let him escort her into the bakery. “I’ve heard this place is pretty great.”

            “Mhm! I mentioned it to Weiss and she said that its online ratings were overwhelmingly positive.”

            Jaune snorted at that. “You had Weiss look it up?”

            “I didn’t tell her to do it. I swear on my life, she researches things by impulse!”

            “I think I’m one of the few people in this world that you don’t have to explain that to.”

            “Good, because we still have to re-explain it to Yang every time she does it.”

            “That still happens?”

            “Every time she visits from Mistral,” Ruby nodded gravely, “You’d think she’d at least have accepted it by now.”

            “Huh, you’d think…so what did you wanna get? I’ll cover the bill.”

            Ruby snorted at that. “No you won’t. I will pay for my own cookies, thank you.”

            “Oh come on Rubes, it’s really not that big a deal…”

            “You know I inhale sweets, Jaune,” Ruby noted playfully, “I’m not gonna clean out your wallet just so you can act all gentlemanly.”

            “Can you give me some points for trying?”

            Ruby smirked wryly at that. “Sorry, I would, but I’m pretty sure I left my gold star stickers at home.”

            “What…what do stickers have to do with anything…?”

            Ruby stared at Jaune blankly for a moment before lifting both of her hands and drawing a star in the air with her index fingers. “Because stars have points?”

            “Did you just hit me with a hidden pun?”

            “Shhhh. My family can never know.”

            “Uhhh…”

            Ruby and Jaune turned their attention to the clerk in front of them before glancing behind themselves and realizing that a line of people had formed behind them while they they’d been playfully bickering. They turned back to the clerk simultaneously, both beet red as Ruby stammered out her order. “U-Uhm, can I get a baker’s dozen of the big cookies?”

            “Sure,” the clerk replied readily, “what flavors?”

            “Two chocolate chip, two double chocolate, one sugar cookie, two peanut butter, four oatmeal—“

            “Oatmeal raisin?”

            “Just oatmeal please. Aaaaaannnd…two snickerdoodles. Can I also get a strawberry filled cupcake?”

            “Chocolate or vanilla?”

            “V-Vanilla please?”

            “Sure. And you two are paying separately?”

            “Y-Yeah,” Ruby mumbled as she took a step closer to the register. “What’s the damage?”

            “Twenty lien.”

            Ruby let out a soft whistle. “Pricy cookies.”

            The clerk chuckled at that. “Trust me, they’re worth it.”

            “I hope so,” Ruby murmured as she pulled out her card and passed it to the clerk. “Friend of mine said you guys don’t do refunds.”

            “Mm, the one thing that we’ve had complaints about. Not that anyone who tried to get a refund actually had food left that they weren’t satisfied with.”

            Ruby snorted at that. “They finished it off first?”

            “That or it mysteriously evaporated into thin air the moment they decided it wasn’t good,” the clerk said airily as they passed Ruby her receipt before turning to Jaune. “And what can I get for you, sir?”

            “Can I have a Danish please?”

            “What flavor?”

            “Do you have the traditional custard kind?”

            “Of course. Is that all for you today?”

            “Yeah.”

            “Four lien, please.”

            “Less than half of my order,” Ruby remarked.

            “Well you did order an entire box of cookies.”

            “And I can almost guarantee they’ll be gone by tomorrow,” she smiled as Jaune paid and the clerk went to collect their orders.

            “Knowing you, I don’t doubt it. So…they have booths…do you wanna stay here and eat now?”

            “Well I wasn’t gonna save the cupcake so…sure.”

            Jaune beamed down at her just as the clerk finished bagging their orders, and they collected their pastries, wishing the worker a nice day before finding a booth to sit in near the far corner of the bakery. This was a pretty nice hang out spot, no doubt Weiss would likely approve of it—and even if she didn’t, Perry would drag her by her feet to the place if it meant she’d cover the bill (and she would, she always insisted on paying for his meals when they went out). Blake might take some more convincing, seeing as she was neither a sweets person nor really one for little corner stores, but…perhaps Wit could help them convince her. After all…he liked sweets almost as much as his father did.

            Ruby slid into booth after Jaune and pulled out one of the chocolate chip cookies, taking a sizable bite out of it as she considered possible conversation starters. “So…how’d your sparring match against BRAS go?”

            “Pretty good…it seems they all have dust manipulation semblances…and they rely on them too much. Their weapon skill needs a lot of improvement.”

            “Aha…so they were pitted against you because your semblance works well against them, right?”

            “It’s a bit hard for them to do massive damage if their attacks only reverberate off me,” Jaune shrugged, “they would have landed much better hits if they used their weapons as well as they use their semblances. So how was team ALRM?”

            “It was…something. I think I was assigned to them because of Marron especially?”

            “What makes you think that?”

            “…Well her semblance is speed.”

            “You have the same semblance?”

            “No, it’s like—she can manipulate the speed of her environment. And she relies on it…a lot.”

            “So like my team.”

            “A bit,” Ruby giggled, “The others have their own issues, but Marron is the one who over-uses her semblance the most. The others have fighting styles that are similar to the rest of my former team, so I have a few ideas on how to improve them in the problem areas.”

            “You always were ridiculously clever for your age.”

            “You were too.”

            Jaune smiled a little wider before taking another bite from his Danish and wiping the excess crumbs from the corner of his mouth with the back of his free hand. “So when’s your first mission with them?” he asked after he swallowed.

            “Uh…about two weeks from now. I’m gonna do sparring with them until then. When’s yours?”

            “This coming Monday.”

            “Isn’t that a little early?”

            “Not really. BRAS is the highest ranking team in their class, which is almost weird since they don’t hold first in individual or partnership rankings. I figured they were ready for higher pressure situations.”

            “…They begged you, didn’t they?”

            “N-No, they didn’t beg…” Jaune trailed off as he locked eyes with Ruby, and swallowed hard before admitting the truth. “…Yeah, they begged. No, they _pleaded_ —Jet and Scarlet got down on their damn knees and groveled. Speaking of Jet, I think someone might idolize your uncle a bit…much.”

            “Oh dear god. Does my uncle have a mini me?”

            “If not for the lack of facial hair and height, I might have confused him for Qrow.”

            “That’s gotta do _wonders_ for my uncle’s ego…does he do the jokes too?”

            “He’s worse than Yang.”

            “I do not envy you,” Ruby said gravely before letting out a soft giggle, “Jeez, it is really nice to finally be able to sit down and talk with you for a bit. I feel like it’s been ages.”

            “Y-Yeah, it is really nice,” Jaune grinned somewhat sheepishly, “I didn’t think asking you out on a date would go this well.”

            Ruby froze at that. She felt like she’d misheard him. Perhaps all the sugar she’d ingested had made her lightheaded, or the crowd in the bakery was too loud. Neither were very solid excuses: she’d only just finished off her chocolate chip cookie and there were ten people in the bakery at best. But yet, Ruby was having trouble believing that the man sitting across from her—a man that she had been friends with for over a decade now—had just referred to this as a date. Jaune descended into a fit of awkward explanation as she stared at him—proving for sure that he wasn’t joking even slightly.

            Jaune had never really outgrown his inability to flirt, if anything it had gotten worse with age. Ruby supposed that was why she could tell that this was genuine. And yet, she still wasn’t sure what to say.

            “Y-You know what? Forget that I said anything. I-I didn’t really do the best job of asking you out, so I can’t really blame you for not noticing…”

            Ruby bit her lip as her eyes wandered Jaune, thinking hard on how to respond. On one hand…she had never considered Jaune in any sort of romantic light, even when people had suggested the notion to her. He was attractive, sure, but after everything they’d been through together, she’d never found it in herself to see him as anyone other than a friend, and she somewhat doubted that her feelings for him would ever change. But on the other hand…there was always a possibility that they would change, and with the…concerning interest in Roman that’d been rearing its head lately, it might do her some good to give Jaune a chance. But…she’d need more time to decide than this.

            “Jaune…I’m really sorry for not noticing,” Ruby spoke softly, “but…do you…think you could give me a little more time?”

            “Huh?”

            “To think about it?”

            “Think about what?”

            Ruby considered this for a moment before gracing Jaune with an answer that made him grin with delight. “Time to think about a second date?”

            “I’d be cool with that.”

            “Can I give you my response after you get back from your next mission?”

            “Sure! We should get back the Saturday after next.”

            “Okie dokie,” Ruby pulled out her scroll and glanced at the time before smiling sheepishly and sliding out of the booth. “Should I call you then? Or maybe you can call me when you get back?”

            “I’ll call you…did you need to go now?”

            “Huh? Oh—uh…yeah…Weiss said she’d help me come up with training regimens for team ALRM, but she gave me a really narrow time frame that starts in about…five minutes. Apparently Perry has four guests tonight and she only has one set of noise cancelling headphones.”

            “…That is…honestly scarring to picture.”

            “What is?”

            “…All of it? I mean I already don’t like thinking about Perry’s occupation but…the sheer amount of consideration that Weiss shows for it is…mildly terrifying. I really don’t understand how she manages to live with it.”

            “Well she has had four years of practice…but as much as I’d like to stick around, I gotta get to Weiss’s place. I’ll text you later?”

            “Sure,” Jaune slid out of the booth after Ruby and smiled at her again, “Good luck with the team stuff.”

            Ruby smiled back before thanking him and speeding away. She’d try her best to concentrate on work…but with this newest addition to her list of personal drama, she got the feeling that she and Weiss would be discussing team ALRM very little tonight.

oooOOOooo


	10. Just a Few Drinks

# Just a Few Drinks

            Ruby had concluded, quite decisively, that she had chosen the absolute worst time to get cold feet. She’d called quits on fighting her curiosity and had made her way to the Club at 8:30, grumbling only just in spite of herself. Weiss had told her it was worth a shot if she really wanted to be friendly—and Weiss had, in fact, become rather astounding in her capacity to give advice—but that hadn’t helped in making her any less conflicted. Indecision and uncertainty was a vice that Ruby had become far too well acquainted with, especially in the case of her recently wavering opinion of Torchwick.

            She was far too tempted to get up and leave the bar, even though she told herself that she’d give it a shot. Perhaps…she hadn’t entirely quelled the thought that she wasn’t supposed to be here. That…it was wrong to even think being friends with Roman was possible, that trying at all was simply naïve. But after ten minutes of internally arguing with herself and occasionally muttering under her breath (much to Junior’s concern) a voice behind her sprung up and interrupted her train of thought.

            “I see that your evening cleared up.” Ruby’s head swung to her left as Roman sat down beside her, his signature smirk teasing at the edge of his lips while she scowled. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could utter a word, he had already wrapped his fingers around the neck of her cocktail glass and had slid it back towards himself. “And I see that you also started drinking without me.”

            “Hey!” Ruby reached out to grab her drink from Roman, but he lifted the glass just as she went to snatch it.

            “So which cocktail is this exactly?”

            “It’s a strawberry daiquiri, okay? Now give it back!”

            “Aha. I don’t think I’ve ever tried this one. Is it any good?” Ruby stared at Roman a moment in befuddlement before he glanced back at her and let out a soft snort. “Well if you won’t tell me…” he chuckled and went to take a sip from the glass, causing Ruby to snap back into action.

            “Hey!! That’s my drink!”

            “Huh. That’s actually pretty decent.”

            “It also isn’t yours!”

            “Darling, we both know that I’ve taken much greater liberties than stealing one cocktail. But in any case,” Roman placed the cocktail glass down and rapped his now free hand on the bar. “Junior!”

            “Roman, I am neither far away from you, nor am I a dog,” Junior spoke gruffly from a spot only a small distance away from Ruby, where he was hunched over the bar with a glass of scotch in one hand. He looked about as tired as usual, but then, this was probably the first chance he’d had all day to lean on something.

            “Two strawberry daiquiris for me and Red, if you will,” Roman replied, entirely ignoring his friend’s response.

            “Please,” Ruby added in.

            Junior lifted himself away from the bar with a sigh, though he didn’t fail to raise an eyebrow at Roman before setting to work. “Is there a reason you’re ordering a girl’s drink?”

            “I’m hoping I can get one of the cute boys to notice me all alone with my drink and offer to buy me more?” Roman noted with a smirk before offering a serious answer, “Because it tastes good, why else?”

            Junior scowled briefly before focusing his attention back on the drinks, and Ruby frowned a little before returning her full attention to Roman. “You were late,” she noted as her eyes narrowed on him.

            He shrugged at that. “Fashionably, I suppose.”

            “You said eight o’clock.”

            “Actually, I said around eight or nine. So in at least one scenario, I was early.”

            “Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight. Well I got a message from Weiss a little while back.”

            “Oh? What about?”

            “Weeeeelll, apparently Perry has a guest over, and since Weiss is his ride, she can’t leave until Perry is done…getting intimate.”

            Roman gave Ruby a scrutinizing look just as Junior finished their drinks and excused himself to deal with an issue somewhere else in the club. “That’s an interesting way to put it.”

            “To put what?”

            “Getting intimate. I doubt Perry would agree with that.”

            “Well…isn’t it?”

            “Sex is not something that Perry finds particularly intimate, so I think not.”

            “Huh. So I’ll have to cross that off the list then.”

            Roman raised an eyebrow at that before taking a sip of his drink. “The list?”

            “The list,” Ruby said definitively.

            “Of?”

            “Ways to say shaboinking.”

            Roman jolted forward suddenly, sputtering and coughing as his body trembled with laughter. “Come again?”

            “The list of ways to say doing the mystery dance.”

            “Does that list include ‘sex’ or ‘fucking’ somewhere on it?”

            “Those are bad words,” Ruby stated blankly.

            “You are a twenty-five-year-old sipping an alcoholic drink at a bar on the shady side of Vale, and you won’t say ‘sex’?”

            “It’s too dirty,” Ruby whispered before taking a sip of her daiquiri, making Roman stare at her in absolute bewilderment.

            “Correct me if I’m wrong but aren’t you a war veteran?”

            “I suppose.”

            “…You are unbelievable, Red…” Roman chuckled and took another gulp of his cocktail.

            “If I wanna call it the act of darkness, I’ll call it the act of darkness.”

            “Are you sure you’re twenty-five?”

            “Yes.”

            Roman sighed briefly, twirling his glass for a pause before speaking up again. “So. How goes the sparring matches with the alarming quartet?”

            Ruby shot a glare at Roman, but then smirked, “They’re going well. That pun was awful, by the way.”

            “It wasn’t exactly a pun. How are you enjoying Marron’s semblance?”

            “Are you under the impression that it’s causing me trouble? I haven’t lost a match yet.”

            “You against four? And you haven’t lost?”

            “Yeeup.”

            “I know I shouldn’t be impressed, considering that it’s you, and yet, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised.”

            “It’s been a few years since the last time I crossed weapons with you,” Ruby mused softly.

            “…I know you meant that in a literal sense, but that would probably be a fabulous addition to your ‘list’.”

            Ruby paused, taking a few moments to realize his meaning before snorting and hunching over the table. “Oh my god…”

            “You have to admit that it works.”

            “I absolutely refuse to _ever_ use that.”

            “In that case, I think I’ll start using it.”

            “Please don’t.”

            “So how much do you wanna bet we can both get plastered before Perry and his client finish crossing weapons?”

            “I am not taking that bet.”

            “Spoil sport,” Roman cast a teasing smirk in her direction before finishing off his cocktail. “Not that it matters either way. I don’t really get drunk easily, so the chances of me being drunk off my ass by the time Perry’s done is comical.”

            “You don’t get drunk?”

            “Oh, I can definitely get drunk. But getting thoroughly wasted? Now that is something I like to avoid.”

            “I thought that was the point of going out drinking.”

            “I don’t know who you go drinking with but I don’t think alcohol poisoning is ever the intended goal. Occasional side effect, yes, but in my experience, drinking is most fun when you are only a little buzzed.”

            “…Oh.”

            “…You always get plastered, don’t you?”

            “I—I do not!” Ruby flared up defensively. Roman perked an eyebrow and she withered slowly. “I mean I don’t sometimes…like…uh…uhm…I don’t when I’m the designated drive—“

            “Christ…” Roman broke into a soft fit of laughter, causing Ruby to cut herself off as her cheeks began to heat up.

            “Hey! It’s not like I can help it that much! I get drunk really easily…”

            “Oh…so you’re a lightweight,” he smirked and began to sip the daiquiri he’d stolen from her. “Well, I suppose whatever happens tonight won’t weigh too heavily on you, right?”

            Ruby scowled, but he only grinned and lifted her former drink, as if to applaud his own joke. She broke her gaze from him and picked up her new drink, knocking it back with alarming speed. “I’m not drunk enough to deal with this,” she stated firmly as she slammed the glass back down.

            “That’s certainly the spirit.”

oooOOOooo

            Roman was starting to wonder if Ruby would ever stop surprising him. After watching her dance across Junior’s bar three times and drag him out to the middle of the dance floor several times (each with an increasingly flimsy excuse about how she didn’t want to dance with him specifically), he suspected it would be a very long time before Ruby’s company wasn’t an adventure in itself. He’d taken a moment to watch her from the bar with his fingers curled around a small glass of brandy, absently smirking a little wider every time she bumped into another person while she spun clumsily around in a circle. He admittedly found her objectively terrible dancing very adorable.

            Perry and Weiss sat a little away from him, debating rather heavily as to whether or not Perry needed to be cut off (he bought too many pricy drinks, according to Weiss), and Junior interjected occasionally that Perry was already only barely passing under standards of public decency. Perry argued to both that money was irrelevant and that Junior’s own dance floor was at fault for his missing shoe and shirt. He was losing both arguments, from what Roman could tell. He wasn’t entirely sure though, mostly because his attention was focused more on Ruby, who was now stumbling towards him with a very goofy grin on her face.

            He chuckled a little to himself and placed his drink down on the bar. “Hello again, Red.”

            She giggled, her head lilting to the side as she leaned towards him. “hello.”

            “Are you about to force me dance again?”

            “Mmm’not forcin you…jus’ asking…” Ruby latched her hands around one of his wrists, and his smirk widened into a grin.

            “She says as she gets ready to drag me against my will. You know you could easily find another partner at this hour.”

            “Idonnwannanothrr parddddnerrr,” she whined.

            “Oh? Have you run out of excuses then?”

            “Whad excoozes?”

            “About being more comfortable with someone you know, me looking too lonely, or that request you made for dance lessons? Which you do need, by the way.”

            She looked a little baffled for a moment. “I juswanna dancwithhhyou…”

            “Just me?”

            “mhm.” Ruby leaned up towards his face until their lips were mere inches apart, and he could confess that despite the overwhelming stench of alcohol, he really didn’t mind the proximity.

            “And why is that?”

            “Coz yourhot,” Ruby said bluntly, and he snorted a bit.

            “Alright, you win. Lead the way, Red.”

            She giggled again in triumph and began to drag him out to the dance floor, lacing her fingers around his as they reached the center of the crowd. Soon, Ruby was spinning them both around with the coordination of your average toddler, and Roman took over just enough to switch her from spinning to hopping up and down while trying, very unsuccessfully, to sway her hips as well as he did. She laughed continuously as he took her other hand in an attempt to keep her more upright.

            “Hooowddd yuulearn ta dance sogood?” Ruby slurred through her giggles after a few moments, getting Roman to smile.

            “One of my closest friends owns a club and you’re surprised that I know how to dance?”

            “Iiiiwuudn kno howta dancifwwweiss or Blakownddaclub.”

            “Hm. Well I learned by example. And, of course, knowing how to dance is rather popular with both the gentlemen and the ladies.”

            “Hmmmm, id is relleeecool I guesssss.”

            “I seem to recall you insisting that you wanted to dance with me just a few minutes ago.”

            “Iiiiaareaddy toll you…thass coz yuurhot.”

            “You seem remarkably comfortable with admitting to that.”

            “Corsss I’m commfee admitten id, istruu—” Ruby cut herself off as she stumbled forward, her face landing square in the middle of Roman’s chest. She struggled a moment before she managed to lift her head while keeping her body leaned against him. “Why wuuld I lie uhbout id?”

            “I could think of more than few reasons you might give if you were sober.”

            “Lionis badd Torchick,” Ruby slurred.

            “I think we can agree that it really depends on the circumstance.”

            “Nnnnnupe,” she refuted, and they settled into a brief silence just as a slow song drifted out over the dancefloor. Roman rocked back and forth slowly as she let go of his fingers as instead began to hug him, resigning himself to the fact that no matter what he did, they both looked ridiculous right now. After a few moments of rocking gently, Ruby spoke up again. “Hey Torchick?”

            “Yes Red?”

            “Caniii callyuu Roman?”

            He hesitated at the question, and eyebrow raised as he replied. “I’m pretty sure I gave you permission to a long time ago.”

            “Oh. Ykno, yuur namidd rilleefit iffyuu wwerr uh…hobo.”

            “…How do you figure?”

            “Coz yuu’d alwayssbee Roman around.”

            He let out a rather loud laugh. “Okay, despite the fact that I hate imagining myself as a mangy vagabond and have no idea where that came from, I have to give you points for creativity.”

            Ruby giggled. “I canbee fuunny.”

            “I suppose so.”

            “Heyyyaaa, lovebirdsss.”

            Roman groaned in his throat a little as he felt someone hug him from behind—a someone he recognized as Perry. “Hello Perry…”

            “You two seem ta bee getting along pretty swimminly.”

            “Not all that—hard to,” Roman jolted mid-sentence as one Perry’s hands migrated south. “Perry, contrary to what you may think, my ass is not where your hand goes.”

            “Jus appreciatin its niceness.”

            “You can ‘appreciate’ it from a distance.”

            “Orrrrr…wee could go back to my place’n I could ‘appreeshiate’ it even closer.”

            “You know, there are nights when I hate you when you’re drunk. Tonight is definitely one of those nights.”

            “Mmm…I’d love ta see whad you do with that inbed.”

            “Well maybe you’ll get lucky and it’ll happen in your dreams tonight.”

            “Yeeerrr really sexyyy when yerfeisty.”

            “And you’re apparently too drunk to take a hint.”

            “For fuck’s sake, Perry.”

            Roman and Perry both turned their attention to their right, where a very agitated Weiss stood with her arms crossed.

            Perry leaned his head on Roman’s shoulder before responding. “Whyd’ya think’m over here, Icequeen?”

            Weiss forced a very fake smile at the joke before pulling him away from Roman by the ear. “I swear I leave you alone for one second…”

            “Ooohhh, are you jeeallis?”

            “I’m not—“

            “Cuz I seem ta remember us agreein that we werenever gonna—“

            “For crying out loud, you know full well I don’t have to be pining for you to stop you from sexually harassing people,” Weiss interjected irritably, “and after that suggestion, I am definitely cutting you off. We’re going home. Now.”

            “Yer a real bitch when yer drunk.”

            “And you are absolutely infuriating,” Weiss noted sardonically before looking away and tugging on Ruby’s sleeve. “Ruby, it’s time to g—“

            Ruby suddenly whined and tightened her grip on Roman, making him cough a little at the sudden force. “Red, I think we all agreed that Weiss was going to give you a ride home.”

            “I wanna gohome withhyuu though…” Ruby mumbled.

            Roman looked back at Weiss, and she locked eyes with him briefly before her gaze returned to her former partner. “Ruby, please, Roman can’t—“

            “Yess hecan!”

            Weiss’s expression contorting into one of concern as her eyes returned to Roman. “You already know that I’m shouldn’t let this happen.”

            “Trust me, Ice Queen, I am more than willing to let you drive her,” Roman grunted, “But you do seem to have your hands full with Perry.”

            “You know what her family would do to us if they found out?”

            “Well they don’t need to find out, now do they?”

            “I can’t believe I’m letting this happen…if you do anything to her, I won’t lift a finger to defend you,” Weiss shook her finger at him for emphasis, and he chuckled a bit.

            “Noted.”

            “Take care of her, okay? And shoot me a message when you’ve gotten her home.”

            “Will do.”

            Weiss sighed and turned her attention back to Perry, who, for the better part of the past minute, had been trying desperately to undo the vice grip she had on his ear. “Honey, I’m not letting go of your ear until you start behaving.”

            “Yer not my mooom,” he whined.

            “You’re right, I’m not, but if you want, I can call the closest thing you have to a mom over from the bar and have him carry you out of his club.”

            Perry groaned. “Fiiiine, I’ll behaaave…lemme gooooo…”

            Weiss let go of Perry’s ear and pushed him towards the exit, flashing one last warning glare at Roman before following. Roman sighed and turned his attention back to Ruby, who grinned as her gaze met his. “You ready to head out too, little Red?”

            “Mhm! Arree yuugonna stayfoor asleeppoverrr?”

            “Hmm…we’ll see about that…”

oooOOOooo


	11. The Crash

# The Crash

            Happy drunks were the best drunks, in his eyes. Most people, however, in Roman’s experience, did not stay that way, especially once the high had faded and the nausea took over. That being said, Ruby was becoming quite the exception, seeing as the crash had started probably a few minutes before he got her into his car and even as he carried her bridal style through the hall to her apartment, her cheerful clinging and awkward attempts to flirt were second only to the drowsy slur and nausea.

            “Roman…m’gonna besick…” Ruby mumbled for what must have been the fiftieth time since they’d left the club.

            “Just hold on a little longer, kid,” Roman replied as he finally reached her door and put her down, causing her to lean on him for support. “We’re almost there…”

            “Mmmm…are yoo gonnasstay’n lookaffftr me?”

            “Quite possibly,” he said absently as he dug through his pockets for her keys.

            “I’d like itif yoostayed…” Ruby swayed a little as he opened the door, and he brought her arm over his shoulder and led her inside.

            “I’ll stay at least until you’ve sobered up a bit.”

            “Mmmmkay…”

            “Now then…” Roman sighed as he scanned her apartment, taking not first of the kitchen off to his left and second to the hall on his far right. He paused to close the door behind him before trudging towards the hall with Ruby in tow, and the girl giggled softly about how silly they must have looked walking in. He couldn’t complain much about her absurdity—she was, at the very least, conscious. Roman studied the hall once they reached the end of it, and led Ruby to the first door on his right, which he had assumed, correctly, was the bathroom.

            “Alright, Red, I’m just gonna sit you down here…” Roman helped Ruby kneel in front of the toilet, managing to lift the lid only barely before she vomited into the bowl, “and I’ll gonna get you some water…”

            “Mhm…”

            “I’ll be right back,” Roman strode back across the apartment to the kitchen searching the rather plain wooden cabinets for a cup before locating a rather ridiculously colorful set of plastic cups. He grabbed a red one randomly and filled it up at the sink, wondering only a little to himself how it was that one of the best huntresses in Vale happened to live in an apartment that was probably no bigger than his kitchen.

            He didn’t have a lot of time to linger on the question, as the cup filled up quickly and he could hear Ruby hurling in the room over. He walked back, managing to get there just as Ruby finished puking and looked up at him, her eyes watery and her lips soaked in her vomit. He sighed and knelt down, ripping a bit of toilet paper off from the roll next to her and using it to wipe off her mouth before passing the glass to her.

            “Ohh…yoogot myfavridd cupp…” Ruby slurred, her head lilting a moment before he steadied her head and helped her sip the water. “Sorryyybout…gettinso drrrunk,” she continued after her first sip, “I didn’mean too…”

            “Well you did warn me that you’re a lightweight, so I kind of expected it,” Roman chuckled softly. “Though, I was a bit surprised that insisted on going home with me.”

            “I add ssommethin morrfun inminnndd…” Ruby slurred as the ghost of a goofy smile crept back onto her face.

            “If you’re insinuating that you wanted to sleep with me, it might do you some good to know that I don’t generally sleep with drunk people,” Roman stated bluntly, causing Ruby to pout a little before holding her hand over her mouth and curling back over the toilet bowl. “Especially ones that don’t find me attractive when they’re sober.”

            “Iii fined yuuattactrive when’msobrr…” Ruby whined after letting out one last violent cough over the bowl.

            “Perhaps. But you wouldn’t admit it, so my position stands.”

            “Thas’ cuz’mmnots’posed ta find yoo atta…attracive,” Red pouted a little more as she lifted her head and took the glass of water back. “Mm’nodeven s’posed to befrienss yoo…”

            “Who exactly gave you the impression that you couldn’t try to be friends with me?”

            Ruby grimaced at that. “Shahne. He hates yoo.”

            “Shawn…? Who’s…ah…you mean Jaune? The friend of yours that’s apparently pining for you? Remind me again why his opinion matters? I seem to recall you claiming to have absolutely no attraction to him earlier.”

            “Ee’s still my frien,” she answered firmly, taking another sip before continuing, “Iii donn wanna makehim mad…an’blake too, she doesn like you. An’yang. Quo doesn seeemto likeyoo much iiitthrr…”

            “Hmm…I suppose that does put you in a bit of a rough spot. But something tells me that that’s not your only reason.”

            Ruby paused, her head lilted dangerously close to the toilet seat before Roman righted her. She frowned, looking somewhat confused before slurring out another sentence. “Mmnot s’posed to lika badguy.”

            “And so the truth comes out.”

            “Are yoo reellee a badguy thoouugh?” Ruby leaned towards Roman, her eyebrows knit together dramatically in her confusion. “Imeean…yoodidd badtthhinsin thuhwaar…bud yoodonnooww…”

            “Not to rain on your parade or anything, Red, but if the government weren’t breathing down my neck, I’d happily still be a criminal.”

            “Whyyy though?”

            “Because I’d have no reason not to be,” Roman shrugged. “I was a thief and a con artist before Cinder found me, I’d still be one if she hadn’t.”

            Ruby pouted again. “Thastuffss bad Roman.”

            “It was how I made my living, Red. Nothing personal, just business.”

            “Thassmean thouuugh…” Ruby flopped her chin down on his chest, and her pout became more dramatic. “Whhyyyywuuld yoobeemmeaan?”

            “Mm…now that…that is a long story, and I think it just might be your bedtime.”

            “Imm adult. Iiii dond havva bed time.”

            “Hm. Well I make it a rule…that drunk adults do have bedtimes.”

            “Mm’nodd drrunk, yer drunk.”

            “…Not entirely wrong, but there’s a big difference between buzzed and wasted. Now let’s get you up…” Roman rose to his feet, pulling a mildly confused and very wobbly Ruby with him. “Are you gonna be able to find the bathroom later or should I get you a bucket?” Ruby stared at him, her expression so vacant that for a moment he wondered if she was thinking at all. He sighed in frustration and started to repeat himself just as she spoke again.

            “Buckit.”

            “…Alright then. Stay here a moment, I’ll go get it…” Roman leaned Ruby on the wall, but hesitated before going down the hall. “Do you remember where you keep a bucket?”

            “Mmm…under kicchinssink?”

            “Right. Stay there for a bit.” Roman strode back towards the kitchen and opened the cabinet under the sink. He yanked the bucket out quickly and walked back to the bathroom to find that Ruby had sunk back down the wall in his absence. He sighed and helped her back onto her feet, leading her back towards what he guessed (correctly) was her bedroom. He laid her down on the bed gently, but as he went for the door, she spoke up again.

            “Roman? Arrree yooleeaving nooow?”

            He paused at that. It had honestly been his plan—Ruby was more than likely to tough it out until morning, and staying the night would probably just cause problems later. But…it seemed that she couldn’t currently grasp that sort of difference, so it’d likely benefit him to lie a bit. “…Yeah, it’s getting late, and I have a lot of work to do tomorrow.”

            “Mm…kay. Stayy safe Roman.”

            “Goodnight, Ruby.” Roman smiled softly and walked back out of the room, vaguely wondering to himself how it was that even in her current state, he still managed to find her a little cute. Drunk people were generally not something he found cute, he actually found them rather annoying. He wondered over the possible reasons for why he didn’t feel the same about Ruby, and by the time he’d made it to the front door, he’d concluded that it couldn’t be anything good. But as he reached for the door handle, a knock sprung up on the other side, and his brow knit together in confusion. A look through the peep hole and a curse later, he’d found a reason to stay.

oooOOOooo

            Waking up the next morning had been hell to her. Even with the amount of water she vaguely remembered drinking last night, the migraine she woke up to was not going easy on Ruby. The heat wasn’t being too nice to her either, and she wondered for a moment if Weiss had wrapped her up in her comforter again to keep her from getting cold. It took her a little too long to remember that Weiss hadn’t been the one to take her home, and longer still to realize that the warmth she felt was not a comforter, but a person. It was Roman.

            She found herself smiling at the first sight of him, before full realization set in and brought her confliction with it. He looked peaceful, just like before, his bright orange bangs fell over both his eyes messily, a ghost of stubble lined his jaw as a crooked smile tugged at the corner of his lips. She knew, after a moment, that she shouldn’t be staring. That she shouldn’t have even wanted to stare. That nothing about the man she’d shamelessly cuddled up to in the middle of the night (again) should make her smile. But…once again she found herself only forcing herself to feel disgusted, and this time while being far too lightheaded to run away.

            She found herself squinting up at his face, resisting the urge to brush her fingertips against his cheek, and resisting the urge to brush his hair out of his face; instead, she simply…didn’t move. She watched him, long enough at least to remind herself that no one else was here. That they were alone. She took the time to sort through her hazy memory of the night before, and to remember, after a few moments, that he had intended to leave. She…couldn’t remember what had made him stay. She thought…maybe it had something to do with Jaune?

            After a few more moments, the migraine became too much, and she rolled away from Roman towards the edge of the bed. His shoulders rose slightly in response as he nuzzled his face further into her pillow, and she smiled. She shouldn’t have found it as cute as she did. Ruby stood from the bed, her body swaying dangerously from the fatigue before she managed to stumble towards the bathroom. She had some migraine medication in her cabinet, she thought. At least, something enough to quell the pounding in her head.

            Ruby shuffled through the hall and into her tiny bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet behind the mirror. Something clattered on the ground as she walked in, and she looked down to see her favorite plastic cup still sitting on the ground from last night. She knelt down to pick it up, giving it a good stare before rinsing the rim of it and filling it back up with cold water. She couldn’t be bothered to get a new cup from the kitchen, and after locating the migraine medicine in the cabinet, she popped two pills into her mouth and downed them before trudging back to her room with both the water and the pill bottle. She thought maybe…her guest might need it.

            Ruby came back around to the free side of the bed, hesitating only a moment before setting down the water and crawling back onto the mattress. Roman jolted softly as she sat back down, his legs curled in a bit and his eyes slowly blinked open. He looked dazed, drowsy, and a little confused as he squinted at his surroundings, and after a few seconds Ruby caught his attention by softly speaking up.

            “So do you end up going home with all the people you invite drinking? Or am I just lucky?” She watched him jolt again as she spoke, his eyes catching hers before a hand sprang up to cover his right eye. She frowned—she hadn’t noticed anything wrong with that side of his face, but then, she was also pretty hungover. He swallowed, sitting up slowly and scanning the room; his gaze returned to her a few moments later. She thought he looked scared in that moment, and she couldn’t help but wonder about his reasons. Either way, she relaxed a little at seeing his wide-eyed expression. A somber smile pressed against the edges of her lips as she sighed and leaned back against her bedframe’s headboard.

            “Can we talk?”

oooOOOooo


	12. PSA

**ALL FICS PSA**

So…before you all lynch me for faking you out, yes, this is not a story update. This is an update on the state of things, a tell all to let you know where in production stage my stories are and to update you on the state of my life and why it’s taking so long. So. To begin with the latter…for those of you not already aware, I’m a college student, and as of last semester, an upperclassman. Now last semester I had six classes and that was the reasoning behind my packed schedule, this semester I’m back down to five but I’m also working two jobs and I’m prepping for a school trip to California and doing an amount of work to follow a class I’m not in during my free time.

I’ve had about…no time to sit down and write in the past month and a half so nothing is being written right now. In fact, for now it is safe to assume that unless I say otherwise (and even if I say otherwise let’s be honest here) nothing is in production between late August and mid-December, and nothing is in production between mid-January and early May. So that’s the state of my life right now, for those of you that have been asking. As for those of you who have been asking about my fics (mostly about, surprise surprise, Still Dreaming), I’m gonna list the state of each of my fics below here, so if you’re waiting on more than one and your inbox is flooded with emails about this one chapter for all of them (Sorry m8) you only have to check one fic to know the state of all of them. So the list goes as follows:

 

  1. **Still Dreaming:** and after over a year of time to work on it and all the fans asking, the 30 th chapter of Still Dreaming is…! …not started yet. I…I’m really sorry guys. I have the entire thing planned out, it’s gonna be super long, its gonna tie everything up, it will be the last chapter of this fic and…my muse is completely uncooperative. Now I write fast once my inspiration strikes so I will try to work on and get it done for this coming winter break, but I know myself well enough to not make promises.
  2. **In the Arms of a Thief:** So I actually finished of the rough draft of the upcoming chapter a few weeks ago, but life got busy and my keyboard is currently sticking on several keys so transcribing it onto a computer has been a grueling process
  3. **The Worst Timing:** Much like the readers of Still Dreaming I’m sure all of you are either tired of waiting or no longer interested. Unfortunately, much like Still Dreaming, I have not started the next chapter, and honestly I can’t remember where I was going with it. In all likelihood if I can’t remember I might pull this story from my library so as not to immerse any other poor souls in it only to leave them hanging (if you still want access to the story you should be able to download it and if you can’t just pm me)
  4. **And Hope Died with Her:** Well I have the chapter number written! -kicks self- Okay so honestly this one is extremely uncomfortable for me to write and I struggle to make decisions on it. It might be pulled like The Worst Timing
  5. **Team RRBY:** y’all should know that I posted this prematurely, before I was ready to focus the necessary amount of energy on this au. I want to work on this, and the second chapter is started I just…am very busy.
  6. **Grimm:** Like RRBY, the second chapter is started. It’s just not complete.
  7. **Delusions of Grandeur:** So if you’re on AO3 you might have noticed that this is your second update today…sorry, that’s because I kept forgetting to post the most recent chapter. Either way, you’ll be pleased to know that this fic is the most up to date—the last update is recent even on ffn and the next 14 chapters are planned out.
  8. **Frozen Hearts and Stolen Peaches/Neighbors:** I know that between both of these groups there are maybe 20 of you so I’m just combining the section, because it’s pretty much the same message. The next installment is started. Just sit tight
  9. **Spelling Lessons:** …I am so sorry. I’m actually overhauling and restarting this because when I started it, there weren’t that many episodes out for Little Witch Academia and I had six classes that slowly drowned m and kept me from writing. I based most of my decisions on headcanons that now have, for the most part, been disproven, so I’m going back and playing with the plot a little more. For the sake of it, the first chapter will likely remain the same. The second is up in the air.



 

And that’s everything. I hope this clears everything up. I’ll be back as soon as I can.


	13. A Heart to Heart

         The bouquet was wilting. It would be more appropriate, actually, to say that the bouquet _had_ wilted, and now slumped rather pathetically against the front doorstep to Ruby’s apartment. Roman perked an eyebrow at them, wondering vaguely if the irony of gifting a woman named Ruby Rose with a dozen red roses was intentional before picking them up and closing the door.

        “Lover boy left you flowers,” he remarked as he turned on his heels to where Ruby sat on the couch, nursing her head with the back of her hand.

        She let out a soft sigh. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

        “Oh no, the boy’s enthusiasm is damn near admirable. His timing could use some work though,” Roman tossed the withering bouquet on the coffee table and sat down next to Ruby. “I don’t know how he even managed to get flowers at quarter to midnight.”

        “…Are you angry?”

        “At who?”

        “Well he wouldn’t have been here if I hadn’t drunkenly flirted with him when he called me.”

        “You were drunk and joking, so I’ll give you a pass this time. Him, on the other hand…”

        “…Took it too far?”

        Roman smiled tightly. “A bit.”

        There was a pause of silence. An agonizing slowness swept over them, so Roman fidgeted a little to bid his time, looked around the apartment until Ruby spoke up again.

        “I…I remember a lot of last night but…just to be sure…nothing happened, right?”

        “Don’t you think you’d be wearing a little less if something had?”

        “Well…my underwear was missing this morning…”

        Roman raised his eyebrows at that as he propped his arm up on the couch and leaned his head in his hand. “How risqué.”

        “S-Shut up.”

        He chuckled softly. “If I remember correctly, you threw your panties at Perry last night.”

        “Oh. Right…” Ruby squinted a moment before turning to face him. “Why did I do that?”

        “I don’t know, I think you were trading? Frankly I’m more curious about how you managed to get them off.”

        “With extreme skill,” Ruby smirked softly.

        “Aha.”

        The silence settled back over them. Roman watched Ruby carefully as her and flopped down into her lap. Her gaze traveled across the room for a while before falling back to her hands. “It’s a bit of a stretch, isn’t it?”

        “What is?”

        “…Saying nothing happened. I mean, even if Jaune hadn’t shown up…”

        “If Jaune hadn’t shown up I would have left,” Roman noted sardonically, “I get the impression that maybe we should just act like I did.”

        “I’m tempted to, but…”

        “But what?”

        “But in all honesty, even if you left, other things still happened.”

        Roman frowned. “I don’t really count drunk flirting as anything ‘happening’.”

        “I do.”

        “Oh? And why is that?”

        “Because…” Ruby shifted, shrinking a little as she trailed off. He rose an eyebrow in response. “…Because I wouldn’t have flirted if I didn’t find you attractive…”

        Roman found himself a little thrown off by the confession. He blinked, the surprise seeped into his expression a mere moment before he let it melt into a soft smirk. “Well isn’t that forward of you, Red.”

        “Shut up.”

        “But I think you’re forgetting something.”

        She hesitated at that. “What am I forgetting?”

        “That I’d have to find you attractive back for it to mean anything.”

        “…Don’t you?”

        Roman grinned far too much at the sincerity and confusion posed in Ruby’s question. “Well someone thinks highly of themselves.”

        “That’s funny coming from you.”

        “Oh come on, Red, you know I can’t help how amazing I am.”

        “You also can’t seem to help yourself from flirting,” Ruby retorted smartly, and Roman’s grin shrunk as she glanced his way. “…you didn’t think I’d notice, did you?”

        Roman shrugged. “ I figured it was subtle enough.”

        “It was, I suppose…I mean, it wasn’t, but I wouldn’t have noticed if Weiss hadn’t pointed it out last night. She’s pretty good catching those sorts of things.”

        “Do you always remember this much after getting blackout drunk?”

        Ruby giggled nervously. “I could tell almost all of my most embarrassing drinking stories for you?”

        “Huh. How many involve your incredibly terrible dancing?” Roman grinned again as Ruby glared at him softly.

        “Rude.”

        “Now now, Red, you can’t fault me for taking the opportunity.”

        “Actually…pretty sure I can.”

“Spoil sport,” Roman feigned a pout and Ruby giggled a little more genuinely before they sank back into awkward silence. He watched as her gaze sank back to her lap, fixating on her fingers as she picked at her nails. Roman had seen Ruby in a lot of stressful situations, both during the war and after meeting her again. He’d faced off against her in plenty of life or death battles...he’d seen her helpless to fight back against the enemy, and even once almost mortally wounded. He had seen her afraid. And yet, somehow, in this moment, far from any fight or mortal wound, years after any battlefield, far even from the anxiety of work, he found her looking her most vulnerable, her most...afraid.

After the pause of silence had overstayed its welcome, Ruby finally let out a heavy sigh. “So.”

Roman stared at her, waiting for her to continue, but was instead greeted with silence. “So…?”

She hesitated only a moment before turning to look at him. “Since you fell asleep in my bed last night—”

“Yeah, okay Red, after that little confession you just made, I genuinely doubt that you actually mind.”

“—You owe me breakfast. I want an omelette on rice.”

“...I do not owe you breakfast.”

“Yes you do. And if you won’t do it for sleeping in my bed when you weren’t supposed to, I guess I’ll just cash in one of the three favors you owe me.”

“What three favors?”

“The ones to make up for the three extra favors I did when I paid off the one I owed you.”

Roman thought hard on what she was referring to before it finally clicked. “No no no, I told you already Red, that was one favor. In four parts.”

“It was four favors and you know it.”

“It was one favor.”

“It was four.”

“One.”

“Four.”

“One.”

“Four.”

“One.”

“One.”

“Four…” Roman hesitated as the number left his lips, locking eyes in an instant with Ruby and realizing at once that she was grinning ear to ear. “Cheeky,” he said finally. “Alright, you win. What kind of omelette do you want?”

Ruby giggled a bit at her triumph. “Ham and cheese please.”

 

oooOOOooo

Ruby hummed a little to herself at her kitchen table, her head rested against the surface. Thankfully her migraine medication kicked in a few minutes ago; her head now pulsed only lightly in pain as she watched Roman prepare food at the stove a few feet away. Neither had talked in awhile, though Roman had cast the occasional sidelong smirk in her direction.

“So...what exactly compelled you to make me cook for you?”

“Curiosity.”

“Curiosity?”

“I have this theory that you’re better at cooking than me.”

“Hm. And your basis for this is?”

“Intuition.”

“The most logical of reasons, I see.”

“Shut up,” Ruby pouted. “Why’d you ask me to cook?”

“Because I’m terrible at cooking.”

“I’ve seen your fridge Roman, it’s mostly filled with ingredients.”

“Unlike yours, which has mostly snacks and leftover takeout. How do you live?”

“I’m not home enough to keep anything perishable,” Ruby shrugged. “So why’d you really ask me to cook?”

“Because I didn’t want to, obviously.”

“Ah...so you were being lazy.”

“Says the woman who lives off takeout.” Roman noted as he arranged the food he’d finished preparing on two plates and carried it over to the table.

“I told you already, I’m not home enough.” Ruby puffed out her cheeks and lifted her head just as Roman placed her omelette in front of her.

“Then get enough for when you are home,” he muttered before walking back to the counter to get two glasses of water.

Ruby glared at his backside for a moment, then stabbed her fork into her food and took her first bite. And it was...good. Better than good. She didn’t know an omelette on rice could taste this delicious. “This is magical,” she whispered.

“I’m glad you think so,” Roman chuckled as he placed the water glasses on the table and took a seat.

“You’re a magician.”

“Says the woman with super speed that literally spawns rose petals.”

Ruby frowned. “Is it that hard to take a compliment without snarking me?”

Roman grinned. “Obviously.”

She sighed but continued eating, and they sank into silence again. Ruby let her thoughts roll around in her brain. She had a lot of questions for Roman, but she was trying to decide which to ask...and how to ask them. She went for the simplest one first. “Why don’t you still hate me?”

Roman looked up, pausing mid-chew as he considered the question. He shrugged and swallowed. “Because you’re not in my way anymore. And you’re actually pretty nice to me in comparison to some of my other clients.” He paused to take a gulp of water. “And you’re cute, so there is that.”

Ruby blushed. “So you don’t hate me because you like me instead.”

“If you wanna see it that way, sure.”

Ruby nodded and bit her lip. Her gaze veered towards the window to their right as she considered her next question. “Last night...you told me you’d still be a criminal if you could.”

“Sure. Beats my current job.”

“So you liked it, then.”

“You’ll find that to be a trend with most organized criminals, Red. We do what we want because we can.”

“So you liked hurting people?” Ruby locked eyes with Roman again. He slowed chewing again, then leaned back and dropped his fork.

“That honestly depends on the person.”

“How so?”

“Well it depends on whether or not I liked them, hated them, or didn’t give a damn either way. And, not that I don’t love your newfound interest in my past criminal exploits, but is there a reason for this impromptu game of twenty questions?”

Ruby looked away and bit her lip. “I...I’m just...trying to understand how...how you can hurt people and just...not care. Or even like it for that matter.”

There was a pause before Roman replied. “Well you like fighting, don’t you?”

“I like protecting people,” Ruby snapped. “The things I fight aren’t people, Roman.”

“But you’ve fought plenty of people in your time.”

Ruby laughed. “Yeah, and I have a laundry list of regrets because of it.”

“I don’t.”

“Why? Why doesn’t it faze you to hurt people? Why don’t you care?”

Roman stared at her, his face impassive. “It’s a long story.”

“I’ve got time,” Ruby retorted. “Literally all day, actually.”

Roman sighed as his gaze veered away from her. She looked down and swallowed hard, only just noticing how frazzled she’d become. “You know I could lie, right?”

She looked up, locking eyes with him. He was leaning on her table, his cheek pressed against one hand as he frowned.

“I could concoct an entire sob story out of thin air, yes, even after tellling you I could, and you’d be none the wiser.”

Ruby measured her next words carefully. “So why tell me that you could?”

He smirked. “To make you think I won’t? Because I know you want to trust me anywat?”

“Wanting to trust you and actually trusting you are two very different things.”

He smiled at that. “I suppose you aren’t as naive as I remember you.”

“Well you’re about as annoying as I remember you,” Ruby shot back. She swallowed past the lump in her throat again before letting out a hefty sigh. “Sorry,” she murmured after a pause. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

And the quiet settled. Ruby stared at the rest of her food for a beat before cutting herself another bite and continuing. She wasn’t really hungry anymore—bratty and childish as it was, her hunger for clarity overrode her physical hunger. She wanted to know, to understand, to...level with Roman. There were parts of him that she liked so thoroughly that she wanted to try—at the very least _try_ —to reconcile their differences. Whatever that took.

“Have I ever told you about any of my childhood friends, Red?”

Ruby’s head shot up at the question. She swallowed and coughed before answering. “I—um. I don’t think so?”

“Oh that’s a shame,” Roman grinned and leaned his elbows on the table. “I think you would have loved them. There was this kid named Ruben that could steal your watch and pull a coin out from behind your ear in the same breath. Insisted that he’d lost his two front teeth in a bar fight for months after his two front baby teeth came out. And then there was this girl named Diamond, never lost an argument. She was maybe...eight years older than me, chain-smoked like a beast. Had these scars all over her forearms. She was mean, but she was an incredibly funny drunk. There was Leo...Leo was...long. The kid was a beanpole, a big, sarcastic and bored beanpole. Perry followed him around like a puppy when he wasn’t tailing me.

“And then there was Avery, I think you would have loved Avery. She had the rosiest little cheeks, and this big bright smile, and she was so stubborn.” Roman chuckled softly, as if he’d become lost in a fond memory, and Ruby swallowed hard as she watched him stare ahead. “She followed me around for months begging me to marry her and I never once said yes.”

Ruby felt herself trembling, her eyes watering as she watched his vacant and somber expression. The silence stagnated between them. She tried to croak out question she feared she already knew the answer to. “Why are you using past tense?”

Roman looked up, tilted his head as he studied her. “Why do you think I’m using past tense?”

Ruby’s voice caught in her throat as she stared. She shook her head in vain. “That’s not why you don’t care.”

He let out a short laugh. Grinned, even. “You’re right. I did care when we found Ruben bleeding out in a back alley, and I did care when they pulled Diamond out of her wrecked car. I cared when Leo disappeared, and I definitely cared when we found little seven-year-old Avery’s naked body in a dumpster. But you know what they all have in common?”

Ruby shook her head.

“There was no monster hiding out in the woods that killed them. They didn’t die because of the Grimm. It was this city and the people in it that killed them. It was the paramedics that came an hour too late to help Ruben. It was the girls who got Diamond expelled from high school and the doctors that refused to give her anti-depressants. It was the police force that stopped looking for Leo. The same police force that stopped looking for Avery’s murderer not even a week after they her body. If the system meant to protect this city wasn’t gonna give a damn about us, then why should I give a damn about it or anyone that benefits from it?”

Ruby was beyond word at this point. She shook her head feebly as the warm tears clouding her vision spilled over and ran down her cheeks. Roman turned away and swore under his breath.

“...I severely underestimated how much that would upset you,” he spoke softly.

“I—I didn’t know,” she whispered.

“Most people don’t.”

Ruby covered her eyes. Her head fell forward and she let out a soft, nervous laugh. “I still can’t understand it.”

Roman let out a heavy sigh.

“No, it’s not because of you, it’s not…” Ruby sniffled and wiped her eyes. “It’s me, it’s…” She took a deep breath in. And out. “I can’t help it I...I always care.” She locked eyes with him, and they stared, if only for a moment. He didn’t look as sad as she’d expect, he looked more emotionless than anything else. She let out a soft laugh. “Of course...you could have lied.”

He smirked. “I could have, I did say that I could make an entire sob story, didn’t I?” He stretched his arms before standing and taking his plate. “Up to you whether or not you believe me.”

She sniffled again, rubbing her eyes and nodded in acknowledgement. “You know…”

“Hm?”

“When we first met I would have told you that my dream was to make this world better.”

He looked back at her from the sink. He shrugged. “I would have calle dyou a naive little girl.” He turned on his heels and walked back to where she was seated, and leaned in. “So what would you say now? If I asked you your dream.”

She smiled. “The same thing, probably. I still _wish_ I could make things better but…” She looked up at him. “I’d be...content with just...protecting everyone who can’t protect themselves. Like your friends. I wish I could have been there to protect them…”

Roman tilted his head, hesitating only a moment before raising a hand up to her cheek. Somewhere in the back of Ruby’s mind, a voice was probably trying to tell her to flinch at the contact, but instead, she leaned her head into his hand. “You can’t protect everyone, Red.”

Ruby stared up at him, bit her lip. She should have known better than to act on her feelings, but right now, she didn’t care. She stood up, closing the gap between them until she was mere inches from his face. He didn’t move even slightly. “I can try,” she challenged.

He smiled. “Maybe you are as naive as I remember you.”

“Shut up.”

“Make me.” Roman grinned as he leaned over to grab her plate and walked back to the kitchen. “Well, if this is all you needed of me, Red, I think I’ll head home…”

“Could we talk more?” Ruby bit her lip as she swerved on her heels to look at his back. She hadn’t meant to blurt it out, but it was too late to take it back. He glanced back with a smile.

“I’m flattered that you’d like to keep me longer, but I do have work to do today.”

“Not—I don’t mean today,” Ruby’s eyes glued themselves to the floor, as she fidgeted, “I mean more in general, like...like friends would.”

It got silent then. After a beat Roman walked forward a few steps. She began to ramble nervously. “I know I just—I know I admitted that I find you attractive and I know that there’s more to this than just friendship but I just—I want to try to understand you first, I don’t want to rush into this when neither of us know what we’re doing, I…”

Ruby trailed off as Roman stopped in front of her. She looked up slowly, half afraid to see his reaction. He was ever so slightly smiling.

He cocked his head to one side and smirked. “Do you mean to tell me that the one and only Ruby Rose, Vale’s most cherished hero, wants to be friends with little old me?”

Ruby snorted as Roman pressed his hand against his chest dramatically. “I’m positively flustered, I don’t even know what to say.”

“I don’t think you’ve had a day in your life where you haven’t known what to say,” she laughed.

Roman smiled and shrugged as he shoved both his hands into his pockets. “You’d be surprised, Red. And sure, if you want to be friends, we can be friends.”

“I think you know I want to be more than that,” she blurted out as she locked eyes with him. And they stood still for a moment. Roman’s smile flickered, his expression mixed before he softened and leaned down towards her. She stayed still, her eyes followed him as he leaned ever closer. Her eyes fluttered shut when his lips met hers, and...it wasn’t magical. But it was soft. Chaste. Gentle. Ruby leaned a little more into the kiss as Roman brought a hand up to her jawline, and their lips broke apart a mere moment before she pressed another kiss onto his lips. And it felt right. Ruby pulled away and opened her eyes halfway. Roman smiled and brushed a thumb against her cheek, and it only just occurred to her how hot her face was. She bit her lip as her thoughts caught up with her, and all her hesitation and uncertainty surged with it. She stepped back, her head hung low between her shoulders.

“I’m sorry, I’m just...not ready for that.”

“It’s fine, Red, I get it. You’re not supposed to like a bad guy.”

Ruby frowned as Roman patted her on the head. She was too ashamed to even deny it. “Sorry…”

He ruffled her hair a little before stepping away. “I’ll see you later then, Red…”

“Can—can I still—call, or maybe...text you?”

“Well...I tend to avoid having too many personal conversations on my work scroll, Red.” Roman turned back to her at the door. “Security reasons and all.” But you can pop into my place on occasion if it suits you.”

“I—I’d feel awkward just—showing up unannounced all the time.”

“That’s hardly stopped you before,” Roman grinned, and Ruby blushed in turn.

“You...sure I can’t text?”

“Red, if I had a burner or something like that, I would gladly waste its minutes on you, but Vale doesn’t exactly approve of me going through scrolls like hotcakes.”

Ruby pouted for a moment as Roman opened her front door, then something in her brain clicked. “W-Wait!” she shouted before speeding back into her bedroom and skidding to a halt in front of her dresser. She pulled open the top drawer, ruffled through the clothes for a while until she found what she was looking for: her old Beacon issued scroll. She smiled before speeding back to the front door to find Roman crouched over at the entrance holding his hands over his ears.

“Christ...warn me before you do that, Red.”

Ruby blushed. “Sorry, I just—I didn’t want you to leave before I gave you this.”

He looked up as she held the scroll out to him, paused, and lowered his hands from his ears as he rose to his full height. “What’s this?”

“It’s my old scroll from when I attended Beacon,” Ruby explained, “They provide the students with them at the start of their first year. Beacon runs them through the communication towers on their own network, so they’re harder to track. Mine’s probably disconnected right now, but I could ask Glynda to turn it back on for you.”

Roman perked an eyebrow at that. “You’re going to ask Glynda to turn your student phone back on so you can give it to me?”

Ruby stared at him blankly for a few seconds. “Well I don’t have to tell her who I’m giving it to.”

He shrugged at that, smirked, and plucked the scroll out of her hand. “Alright, Red, you win.”

“Cool! I’ll shoot you a text once it has service again!”

“I’ll be waiting ever so patiently,” he winked before strolling down the hallway. He paused after a few steps, and turned back partway. “You should probably call lover boy, Red. Clear things up and let him down easy.”

“I—I feel like I should give it a little more time…”

“Ruby, you just kissed another man in your living room while the flowers he bought for you sat dying on the coffee table, where they have been sitting since we found them this morning. You already know that nothing’s going any farther with you two, so tell him now.”

Ruby hugged herself as her head hung between her shoulders. As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. “Alright.”

“Good. Catch you later, Red.”

Ruby looked up after a beat, but Roman was already halfway down the hall and well out of earshot. “Bye.” She swallowed hard before turning back into her apartment and closing the door. She looked around at the disaster that was her living room—she should have known better than to use her semblance in her apartment, she supposed—and located her scroll among the mess to her left, and picked it up. Ruby hesitated, eyes drifting to the door before she sighed as she dialed a familiar number. She bit her lip as it rang, hugged herself as it rang again, squeezed her arm with a vice grip as it clicked. She felt bad. She didn’t want to do this. But Roman was right—better now than later.

_[“Heya Rubes!”]_

“...Hi Jaune.”

oooOOOooo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> __  
>  Somewhere in the city of Vale, a wild Perry is waking up in bed with a pair of women's panties on his head. He is confused. And hungover.  
> 
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**Author's Note:**

> Rosewick trash Peeves reporting in and hello, welcome to the spiritual successor of Still Dreaming. That I am starting early. For reasons. Now to clarify to those of you who found this through Still Dreaming…no, I am not done with that. I just…wanted to work on this. So, Future AU, ten years later…I left a lot unexplained, but the basic spoilers…this is an AU where Cinder lost. So yeah, light on the angst there. Do I know exactly where I’m going to take this? No, but thanks to the new age range of the characters, I know for sure that it’ll be more adult.  
> So…Rosewick trash Peeves out until next chapter.


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